Carl Salans, one of the original three founders of Dentons’ legacy firm Salans, passed away on October 20, 2021 at the age of 88. 

Educated at Harvard University, Cambridge University and the University of Chicago, he went on to a highly successful career in the Office of the Legal Advisor at the US State Department, where he worked from 1959 to 1972. There he rose to the position of Deputy Legal Advisor, one of the top roles within the Office, serving in that capacity from 1966 to 1972. During that period, he advised on many of the most sensitive geopolitical issues of the times. These included advising on the Pentagon Papers matter, advising US delegations in some of the highest profile international negotiations, including the Geneva conference on the neutrality of Laos and the Vietnam Peace Talks, and participating in multiple international treaty negotiations, including as Head of the US delegation to the UNESCO Conference which established the World Heritage Convention.

After leaving the State Department in 1972, he joined the Samuel Pisar law firm in Paris. There he met Eliane Heilbronn and Jeffrey Hertzfeld, and six years later, the three of them establish Salans Hertzfeld & Heilbronn, with the vision to create an international law firm. The law firm was later renamed Salans. In 2013, Salans combined with Fraser Milner Casgrain and SNR Denton to form global law firm Dentons.

A highly respected arbitration lawyer, he established the Firm’s International Arbitration practice and mentored generations of younger lawyers. As part of his many accomplishments, he sat as an arbitrator in the Iran-US Claims Tribunal at The Hague, worked for a number of years as the US member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, and then served as its Vice-President, before presiding over the Court from 2008 to 2009.

Carl will be remembered by his colleagues as a man of values, who had a gentle nature and cared deeply about people. A strong believer in the power of relationships, he invested time to get to know clients and colleagues on a personal level and was always available to listen and offer counsel. He will be sorely missed.

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