Partners at City firm Denton Wilde Sapte and US firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal are set to decide next Wednesday whether to give the green light to a merger of the firms.

The merged firm, SNR Denton, would comprise 1,400 lawyers and boast combined revenues of around £500m. Senior executives at the firms approved the tie-up last week.

City firm Lovells and US firm Hogan & Hartson finalised another transatlantic merger last month with the creation of Hogan Lovells, comprising 2,500 lawyers and revenues of around £1.1bn.

Tony Williams, principal at management consultants Jomati, said that while he expects a ‘couple more’ transatlantic mergers before the end of 2010, English firms will more probably want to improve their profit figures before completing tie-ups with US firms in 2011 and 2012. ‘There’s a recognition that the international legal market requires breadth and depth in its two biggest centres,’ he said.

If the Dentons deal is approved next week, Dentons chief executive Howard Morris and Sonnenschein chair Elliott Portnoy will become co-chief executives of SNR Denton.