CORRECTION, 12/17/13, 11:20 a.m. EST: An earlier version of this story misspelled in one instance the name of DLA Piper of counsel Steven Levitsky. The information has been corrected in the eighth paragraph below. We regret the error.
Baker & McKenzie’s JAMES ROSSITER has jumped to the Toronto office of Dentons as a partner, where he will focus on cross-border transactions such as acquisitions, divestitures and financings in the U.S. and Canada.
Rossiter says he started considering a move to Dentons in April after SNR Denton completed its three-way combination with Salans and Fraser Milner Casgrain. He says the firm’s size was particularly attractive, especially the 500 lawyers and six offices it boasts in Canada and its roughly 750 lawyers in the U.S. “It fits,” Rossiter says. “As a cross-border guy, my clients need seamless. They need one firm, one team, one account.”
Most of those clients are moving with him, Rossiter says, a group that includes professional sports team owners, U.S.-based multinationals, New York hedge funds, investment banks and commercial lenders. Two years ago, Rossiter advised Canadian businessman Tom Gagliardi in his purchase of the National Hockey League’s Dallas Stars following the team’s descent into bankruptcy in September 2011.
Rossiter says he is also excited about the move for a reason not many laterals cite: That all partners in Dentons’ Toronto office have the same office size, with identical, ergonomically designed furniture.
