DWF reports revenue growth driven by international expansion and innovation

International legal business DWF today announced an 18% increase in annual revenues, from £199m to £236m, in its annual results for the year ended April 30, 2018.

The firm, which has its Birmingham office at One Snowhill, revealed that profit per equity partner also increased.

Andrew Leaitherland, managing partner and chief executive, said: “This has been another very strong year for DWF, with growth across all of our businesses.

“Our differentiated offering of services, with innovative non-legal services supporting our core strengths in commercial and insurance, is having a real impact with clients.

“We have prioritised making significant investments which will drive the long-term success of our business and enable us to transform the way legal services are delivered.

“Through these investments we have furthered our international reach and launched our Connected Services division.

“We have also invested in senior leadership, with the appointment of Sir Nigel Knowles as chairman, the recruitment of more than 35 partners to the business and a further eight promoted from within the business to that level.”

He added: “Combined, these investments will help us meet the needs of our clients more effectively, as we continue to focus on innovation.”

The past year has seen further notable international expansion, with DWF opening its first offices in Singapore, Italy and Qatar and entered into a strategic alliance in Turkey.

The firm also opened additional offices in Australia, with Brisbane and Melbourne added to its existing Sydney location.

Recruitment in international markets also saw the addition of new offerings, including the launch of an intellectual property practice in Paris and a banking practice in the UAE.

In October DWF formally launched its Connected Services capabilities as a separate division.

Connected Services consists of a range of professional, business or consulting services which are complementary to the traditional legal services offered by DWF’s other three divisions.

Connected Services are offered either directly to clients as stand-alone services, or as part of a complementary offering to DWF’s other services.

The Connected Services division’s offerings allow DWF to provide multi-disciplinary teams across different professional and business services in an integrated package.

The firm said it has strengthened its relationships with a wide range of blue-chip clients and public bodies, including in the past 12 months advising Tokio Marine Kiln, Lloyds Banking Group, Serco, Telefonica, Whitbread, adidas and the Pension Protection Fund.

Overall, DWF advises 28% of the FTSE100.

Mr Leaitherland said: “It has been an excellent year. The combination of our core legal strengths, sector focus, geographic reach and, most importantly, our commitment to doing things differently, is delivering for our clients.

“Our innovative business model has been recognised, with DWF ranked as the 10th most innovative legal business in Europe in the 2017 Financial Times Innovative Lawyers report – and scoring highest of all firms for innovation in the business of law.

“Looking ahead, in June we confirmed that we are considering a number of strategic options for our business, including the possibility of an IPO on the London Stock Exchange.

“We are already positioned positively for the next phase of our development, but we believe an IPO would be one of the options that would allow us to achieve our strategic objectives, notably by further increasing our capacity to invest in IT and Connected Services, while also enhancing our ability to attract and retain the best talent.”