Dentons, which was formed in February via a mash-up of three international law firms, now offers crisis management expertise via an alliance established with Wirthlin Worldwide International.

WWI was the strategic consulting unit of the Wirthlin research firm that was acquired by Harris Interactive in 2004. It was spun off as an independent company that same year.

The new entity called Wirthlin, a Dentons Innovation Group Partnership, is to offer crisis, global marketing and international venturing counsel.

It will forgo the fee-for-service model in favor of a "fee-for-success" approach, according to Michael Silva, managing director.

He has counseled Exxon (Valdez oil spill), Catholic Church (sex abuse scandal) and Waco (FBI raid and subsequent fire of the Branch Davidian compound).

Dentons boasts of 2,500 lawyers. It’s the result of the combination of Salans (France), Fraser Milner Casgrain (Canada) and SNR Denton (U.S./U.K).