DWF LLP
Headquarters | Manchester, United Kingdom |
---|---|
No. of offices | 15[1] |
No. of attorneys | 1,100 |
No. of employees | 2,500 |
Major practice areas | General Practice |
Key people | Andrew Leaitherland (Managing Partner)[2] |
Revenue | £194.0 million (2013/14)[3] |
Profit per equity partner | £411,000 (2013/14)[4] |
Date founded | 1977 (Liverpool) |
Founder | Jim Davies, Guy Wallis[5] |
Company type | Limited liability partnership |
Website | |
dwf.law |
DWF LLP is a British law firm headquartered in Manchester with 15 offices across England, Scotland and Ireland, Dubai, Germany and Brussels.[6] It trades as Resolution Law for its claimant services business.
DWF started life as a four office practice in the North West of England. The firm has grown through a series of mergers and currently has around 2,500 staff and is the 20th-largest law firm in the UK measured by 2014 revenues.
History
Davies Wallis was founded in 1977 in Liverpool,[5] and merged with Dodds Ashcroft in 1989.[5]
A merger with Foysters in 1990[5] brought a Manchester office and a change of name to Davies Wallis Foyster, which was abbreviated to DWF in 2007,[5] shortly after the acquisition of Ricksons.[7] The Ricksons acquisition added offices in Preston and Leeds. DWF opened a London office in 2008.[8]
A series of acquisitions in 2012 and 2013 added offices in Birmingham (Buller Jeffries),[9] Newcastle (Crutes),[10] Glasgow and Edinburgh (both Biggart Baillie),[11] Bristol, Dublin and a second London office (Fishburns),[12] before acquiring Cobbetts through a pre-pack administration.[13]
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.[14]
DWF opened an office in Dubai in March 2015, the firm's first office outside of the British Isles.[15]
Practice areas
DWF is structured into two legal service areas,[16] covering Commercial Services and Insurance Services respectively. The Insurance Services area includes a practice dealing with "Claimant Services", delivered as Resolution Law.[17]
Offices
DWF is headquartered in the Spinningfields district of Manchester and has offices[1] in the following other towns and cities across the UK and Ireland, a few of which are in notable buildings, as well as in Dubai:
- Birmingham
- Bristol
- Dubai
- Dublin - in the International Financial Services Centre
- Edinburgh
- Glasgow
- Leeds - in Bridgewater Place
- Liverpool
- London - in 20 Fenchurch Street
- Milton Keynes
- Newcastle
- Preston
- Brussels, Belgium
- Cologne, Germany
- Munich, Germany
References
- 1 2 "Get in touch". DWF LLP. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
- ↑ "DWF's Leaitherland wins fourth three-year term as managing partner". Legal Week. 2014-12-02. Retrieved 2014-12-19.
- ↑ "Legal Week UK Revenue Table". Legal Week. 2014-09-01. Retrieved 2014-12-18.
- ↑ "DWF profits surge by 23 per cent". Manchester Evening News. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "DWF enters 'abbreviation age'". Manchester Evening News. 2007-02-17. Retrieved 2014-12-18.
- ↑ "About Us". DWF LLP. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
- ↑ "DWF and Ricksons confirm merger". The Lawyer. 2007-01-03. Retrieved 2014-12-18.
- ↑ "Davies Lavery team defects for DWF City launch". Legal Week. 2008-06-20. Retrieved 2014-12-18.
- ↑ "DWF and Buller Jeffries to merge". Business Desk. 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2014-12-18.
- ↑ "Crutes completes merger with DWF". The Journal. 2012-01-09. Retrieved 2014-12-19.
- ↑ "Biggart Baillie reveals merger with DWF". The Herald. 2012-07-06. Retrieved 2014-12-19.
- ↑ "DWF to merger with professional indemnity firm Fishburns". Legal Week. 2013-01-18. Retrieved 2014-12-19.
- ↑ "DWF plans to buy troubled Cobbetts". Manchester Evening News. 2013-01-31. Retrieved 2014-12-19.
- ↑ "DWF posts net profit growth to £25.5m, revenues at £191m". The Lawyer. 2014-07-24. Retrieved 2014-12-18.
- ↑ "DWF tears up UK-only strategy with Dubai office launch". The Lawyer. 10 March 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
- ↑ "Services DWF". DWF LLP. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
- ↑ "Claimant Services". DWF LLP. Retrieved 2015-12-11.