DWF is a global legal business, headquartered in Manchester, England, with 31 offices across the world.[4] In March 2019, DWF was listed on the London Stock Exchange. With a £366m valuation and offer size of £95m, DWF became the UK's largest listed law firm.[5]
DWF's London offices at 20 Fenchurch Street also known as London's "Walkie Talkie"
The firm started as a four office practice in North West England and has now grown globally through a series of international mergers. It currently has around 3,100 staff and is the 19th-largest law firm in the UK measured by revenues. It advises national and multinational corporations, financial institutions and governments.
View of the Sky Garden rooftop garden and restaurant at the top of the 20 Fenchurch Street tower where the firm's London office is based
Davies Wallis was founded in 1977 in Liverpool[3] and merged with Dodds Ashcroft in 1989.[3]
A merger with Foysters in 1990[3] brought a Manchester office and a change of name to Davies Wallis Foyster, which was abbreviated to DWF in 2007,[3] shortly after the acquisition of Ricksons.[8] The Ricksons acquisition added offices in Preston and Leeds. DWF opened a London office in 2008.[9]
In 2014, DWF reported a 23% increase in net profit from £20.8 million in 2012/13 to £25.5 million in its first full year financial results following four mergers.[15]
DWF opened an office in Dubai in March 2015, the firm's first office outside of the British Isles.[16]
DWF opened six offices in 2017, including two new operations in Continental Europe. The firm opened in Berlin after hiring two lawyers from DLA Piper. It also launched its first office in France through a merger with four-partner Paris firm Heenan Blaikie. In the Asia Pacific region, DWF also launched two offices in Melbourne and Brisbane through a combination with independent firm MVM Legal.
DWF posted strong results for H1 2017/18, with revenue up 23% and net profit increasing by circa 33%. Turnover for H1 2017/18 was £113.5m in a period marked by a spate of office openings in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.[18]
In June 2018, DWF announced its intention to seek a stock exchange listing.[7]
The firm strengthened the IPO business case with a double-digit growth in September 2018. DWF posted revenue growth of 18% from £201.3m to £236m ($309m) for 2017/18 ahead of the firm's initial public offering. The firm also said profit per equity partner (PEP) increased by 9%.[19]
In September 2018, DWF agreed to an exclusive association with US law firm Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman LLP (WSHB), a Los Angeles headquartered full-service law firm with 22 offices across the US, 56 partners and 250 lawyers, and generated gross revenue of $81m in its last financial year.[20]
DWF, working alongside Jones Lang LaSalle, has advised Korea's National Pension Service as lead bidder to buy Goldman Sachs’s new London headquarters for $1.56bn. The deal will see Goldman Sachs commit to a 25-year lease of the 826,000 square foot site and are set to move into the building in summer 2019. The landmark transaction is the single largest UK real estate deal this year, and the second-largest ever, after the sale of the 'Walkie Talkie' building for $1.6bn, where DWF London lawyers reside.[22][23]
DWF's Police and Prison Law team have secured a favourable judgment for South Yorkshire Police in a claim brought by Sir Cliff Richard against the BBC and SYP for infringement of his privacy rights.[25][26]
DWF advised Discovery Park, one of Europe's leading science and technology parks, on $207m biomass renewable energy plant. Around 650 Pfizer UK employees are based at Discovery Park.[28]
