- DWF is one of only a few law firms that have listed on the London Stock Exchange. When it listed in 2019, it became the UK’s largest listed law firm, and offered share awards to more than 2,000 of its people (see here).
- DWF is an insurance heavyweight working on important matters such as the personal injury claims surrounding the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
- Chambers and Partners has awarded the firm Band 1 rankings for its Health & Safety, Personal Injury: Mainly Defendant and Product Liability: Food departments.
- Significant regional presence across the UK (the firm offers training contracts across the UK including in Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Newcastle), as well as a strong global presence.
- Carries out private client work, including family law, estate administration and tax planning (see here), as well as the usual contentious and non-contentious work offered by large law firms.
- The DWF Academy offers access to 20+ wellbeing modules, covering topics from healthy living and positive thinking to life balance, resilience and relaxation.
- The firm’s “Mindcrest” arm is dedicated to technology and innovation, combining legal services with consulting and management expertise to give a unique, holistic offering to clients.
- DWF fosters a culture of diversity and inclusion through its Diversity and Inclusion Campaigns, including events for International Women’s Day, International Men’s Day, Diversity Week and Black History Month.
We cover these selling points in more detail below, alongside other relevant firm facts and characteristics.
Practice areas / services
DWF offers an integrated range of legal and business services, including:
- 360 Claims and Risk Management Software
- Audit
- Claims Management & Adjusting
- Class Actions
- Commercial, Regulatory & Data
- Compliance
- Contracts Management
- Corporate
- Corporate Governance & Compliance
- Costs
- Data Protection and Cyber Security
- Dispute Resolution
- DWF Chambers
- Economic Crime & Fraud Hub
- Employment and Pensions
- ESG Solutions
- Finance and Restructuring
- Forensic
- Insurance
- Legal Analytics
- Litigation and Investigations
- Real Estate
- Regulatory Consulting
- Risk
- Tax & Private Capital
- Zing365
Chambers and Partners, a leading analyst of the legal market, has awarded DWF its highest ‘Band 1’ rankings for the following departments: Health & Safety, Personal Injury: Mainly Defendant and Product Liability: Food. See here for more information
Key sectors / industries
DWF services a broad range of industries, with some of its highest-value clients operating in the following sectors:
In addition, DWF also services the following industries: Built Environment, Consumer, Government & Public Sector, and Transport.
Work
DWF’s notable work includes:
- Tesco: DWF was appointed by Tesco to its legal panel for property and property-related services in England and Wales.
- BT: The firm was reappointed to BT Group’s legal panel which is comprised of 11 firms and involves being able to bid for all of BT Group’s external legal work.
- Pastest: DWF advised Pastest which provides test prep solutions for doctors, on its minority equity investment in The Medic Life which provides free events, classes, 1-2-1 tutoring and interview preparation courses for those wishing to study Medicine or Dentistry.
- Kensington and Chelsea Council: The firm advised the council following the Grenfell fire disaster on various personal injury claims that stemmed from the fire.
Older examples
- Missguided: DWF’s restructuring team advised Missguided and helped with the completion of the sale of the business and its assets to the Frazers Group for £20m, which ensured the continuation of the Missguided brand.
- Aviva: at the beginning of 2023, the firm was reappointed to Aviva’s core legal panel, and now provides Aviva with a broad range of services.
- Durham County Council: The firm, along with Brick Court Chambers, advised Durham County Council on the UK’s first case brought under the Subsidy Control Act 2022, which regulates the lawfulness of financial assistance awarded by public authorities to organisations engaged in economic activity.
Offices / global footprint / expansion
Offices / global footprint / expansion
Headquarters: Manchester, 1 Scott Place.
Offices: The firm has 31 offices across the globe, with 11 offices in the UK alone. Its locations across the world include the US, UAE, Turkey, Spain, South Africa, Singapore, Qatar, Portugal, Poland, Italy and France.
Insights, internships and other opportunities
The firm offers a two-week summer vacation scheme, which gives attendees the opportunity to learn about two of the firm’s practice areas and attend a variety of workshops and presentations covering DWF as a business. The scheme also includes a group project.
Alongside the vacation scheme, DWF also runs an Ethnic Minority Access Programme, which provides individuals from Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic backgrounds with mentoring and skills sessions ahead of a paid work experience scheme. Candidates on the scheme are also considered for a training contract at DWF.
The firm also offers solicitor apprenticeships, business support apprenticeships and a specific business services graduate programme.
Training contract
DWF accepts direct training contract applications. The firm’s training contract is made up of four six-month seats, with the opportunity for trainees to gain exposure to the firm’s main global practice groups: Corporate Services, Dispute Resolution, Insurance and Real Estate.
Training contracts are on offer at the firm’s offices in Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The training contract includes a range of face-to-face training sessions, in house workshops and practical day to day learning.
Secondments
Trainees may have the opportunity to undertake a client secondment, depending on business need, or rotate to one of the firm’s different international offices.
Technology and innovation
Since DWF describes itself as integrating legal and business services, its technology and innovation developments centre around this approach, for example:
- Mindcrest: This is the arm of the DWF group which combines operational, technological and consulting expertise to provide solutions to businesses. It is described as an alternative legal services provider that helps businesses with compliance and risk management, litigation and investigations, contracts, research, and cyber incidents.
- Legal Design Challenge: The firm collaborated with Lex Open Source, Radiant Law and Wavelength Law to collectively host this challenge, which brought together a group of 60 people to collaborate on an evaluation and re-design of key elements of drawing up contracts.
- Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards Europe 2019: The firm won the New Business and Service Delivery category in recognition of it becoming the first legal business to list on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, overhauling the firm’s partnership model to form a unique corporate structure.
Corporate social responsibility
DWF wants to foster a “culture of recognition and appreciation” and uses its corporate social responsibility commitments to further this aim. Examples of how it fosters this culture include:
- DWF Foundation: The firm’s foundation supports registered charities that are centred on homelessness, health and well-being, employability, education, and environment and sustainability. From December 2015 - December 2022, the Foundation awarded grants totalling over £1 million.
- 5 STAR Futures: This is DWF’s flagship community education programme, which has helped aspirational young people to unlock their potential by developing their confidence and employability skills.
- DWF Wellbeing Hub: The firm offers five channels of tailored content such as videos, books, and audio books covering mindfulness at work, stress management, and physical, mental and financial wellbeing. There is also a DWF Academy, which provides access to 20+ wellbeing modules, plus the firm has “Wellbeing Wednesdays”.
Diversity and inclusion
DWF aims to “create an inclusive environment” where employees bring their whole selves to work and enable diversity to “truly flourish.” It does so through initiatives including:
- DWF Diversity and Inclusion Campaigns: each year, at all of the firm’s locations, there are various events celebrating International Women’s Day and International Men’s Day, there is a Diversity Week, and the firm puts on a range of events to celebrate Black History Month.
- Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Group: This group defines and executes the firm’s global diversity strategy. The group is led by 100+ DWF colleagues. It also delivers action plans.
- DWF Employee Networks: The firm has a number of employee networks, including the Wellbeing Steering Committee, Out Front for LGBTQ+ members of the firm, This is Me which progresses gender parity, Race and Ethnicity Network, and Diverse Ability network for neurodiverse people and those with hidden and visible disabilities (plus carers and allies).