1861–1877: Woods & Davidson Dentons Rodyk & Davidson traces its beginnings to the partnership of Woods & Davidson, founded in 1861 by
Robert Carr Woods and
James Guthrie Davidson.
1877–2016: Rodyk & Davidson Following Woods’s death, Bernard Rodyk joined Davidson in 1877, after which it was renamed Rodyk & Davidson. The firm established an office in
Shanghai in 1996 and was the first foreign law firm to be granted a licence to operate there. The firm was registered under the
Limited Liability Partnership Act with effect from April 2007. In 2011, Phillip Jeyaretnam was elected
managing partner. He was succeeded by Gerald Singham in 2020 following Jeyaretnam's appointment as a Judicial Commissioner of the
Supreme Court of Singapore. Both have served as Global Vice-Chair and ASEAN Chief Executive Officer of
Dentons.
2016–present: Dentons Rodyk & Davidson In 2016, the firm combined with global law firm
Dentons and was renamed Dentons Rodyk & Davidson LLP. Following the combination, the firm became part of Dentons, a global law firm with more than 200 offices in over 80 countries. Dentons Rodyk was the first firm in the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to combine with Dentons. Dentons ASEAN subsequently established a presence across multiple ASEAN jurisdictions, including Singapore,
Myanmar,
Indonesia,
Thailand,
Malaysia,
Vietnam, and the
Philippines. In 2017, the firm established the Dentons Rodyk Dialogue, an annual event jointly hosted with Singapore Management University, which focuses on legal, business, cultural, and economic developments in Asia. ==Operations==