Business of Law Firms​

DWF expands in North American market with £27m acquisition​

By Jake Rickman​

What do you need to know this week?

Welcome to the 20th article in TCLA’s series on the Business of Law Firms.

As reported in The Law Society’s Gazette last week, DWF announced it has agreed to acquire a litigation firm in Canada, Whitelaw Twining Law Corporation, for nearly £28m. £16.9m of the purchase consideration will be in the form of shares in DWF, with the remaining £10m in cash to be used to pay off Whitelaw’s existing debt.

As Law.com notes, the structuring of the acquisition means that Whitelaw’s current leadership will still maintain managerial control over the firm. This is due to the regulation of the legal sector in Canada, with regulators offering their tacit support of the arrangement on the condition that management remains in the hands of lawyers qualified in certain Canadian provinces.

The merger is part of a wider “sandbox” initiative approved by regulators in British Columbia (a Canadian province) that permits legal entities to adopt novel corporate arrangements to encourage innovations in the legal sector.

This is not DWF’s first foray into the Canadian legal market: in 2021 they acquired Barnescraig Associates to build out their insurance claims and risk management division in Canada.

For FY 2021-22, DWF reported global revenue of $482m, up from $434m the year prior. Law.com reports that Whitelaw’s revenue in 2021 was CAD34.5m.

Why is this important for your interviews?

DWF is something of an outlier in that it is one of the few global law firms that exists as a publicly traded company, rather than as a partnership arrangement. There are certain drawbacks to this structure — namely the perception by regulators and investors of certain risks that arise when ownership (public shareholders) in a law firm is separated from management (the partners).

However, the mere fact that DWF took the plunge in going public demonstrates that it is not afraid to embrace unorthodox corporate arrangements. This deal likewise is without precedent, both in Canada and elsewhere in the world. Given few other global law firms have a presence in Canada, the acquisition now means DWF can present to global clients with a significant presence in Canada a compelling proposition relative to its competition.