Seven of Dentons Cohen & Grigsby’s corporate and private equity shareholders, including two practice chairs, started at the Pittsburgh office of K&L Gates over the weekend as partners, establishing a private equity practice in their new firm’s hometown.

Although K&L Gates has a “strong” private equity practice in other offices such as the Carolinas, the latest additions from Dentons will have an “immediate impact” on the firm’s native office, since they bring a significant amount of client business, said Thomas J. Smith, K&L Gates’ co-managing partner for the firm’s U.S. offices and managing partner of the Pittsburgh office.