DWF is a global legal business, headquartered in Manchester, England, with 31 offices across the world. 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.
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.
DWF's London offices at 20 Fenchurch Street also known as London's "Walkie Talkie"
In March 2019, DWF floated on the London Stock Exchange, valued at just under £370m, rather short of the £1 billion that it was hoping for a year earlier.
History
Davies Wallis was founded in 1977 in Liverpool and merged with Dodds Ashcroft in 1989.
A merger with Foysters in 1990 brought a Manchester office and a change of name to Davies Wallis Foyster, which was abbreviated to DWF in 2007, shortly after the acquisition of Ricksons. The Ricksons acquisition added offices in Preston and Leeds. DWF opened a London office in 2008.
A series of acquisitions in 2012 and 2013 added offices in Birmingham (Buller Jeffries), Newcastle (Crutes), Glasgow and Edinburgh (both Biggart Baillie), Bristol, Dublin and a second London office (Fishburns), before acquiring Cobbetts through a pre-pack administration.
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.
DWF opened an office in Dubai in March 2015, the firm's first office outside of the British Isles.
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 further opened in Singapore after hiring from Eversheds Sutherland’s practice. It gained bases in Sydney, Chicago and Toronto after the acquisition of claims company Triton in January.
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.
In June 2018, DWF announced its intention to seek a stock exchange listing.
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%.
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.
In January 2020, DWF acquired Mindcrest, a legal and managed services business, for $18.50 million.