Both firms recorded strong profits in the past year
Taylor Wessing UK and Winston & Strawn have reportedly commenced discussions of a potential combination, reported the Law Society Gazette.
Pending a UK partner vote next month, Taylor Wessing UK, BeNeLux and Dubai will join Winston & Strawn.
Both Taylor Wessing UK and Winston & Strawn recorded strong profits in the past year. Winston & Strawn announced this year that its profit per equity was US$3.5 million, while net income was at US$410 million – a 10 percent increase. The firm attributed this to high demand in specialized finance, digital assets, high-stakes litigation, and private equity and mergers and acquisitions expertise.
Meanwhile, Taylor Wessing UK revealed that its profits rose by 12.3 percent to hit £103 million, with revenue increasing by 15 percent to £283.7 million over 2024-2025.
Taylor Wessing’s global revenue came in at £526.2 million, representing a 10.1 percent uptick, while profit per equity partner soared by 21 percent to £1.1 million.
Winston & Strawn is headquartered in Chicago and has a presence across the US, as well in Brussels, London, Paris, and São Paulo. Taylor Wessing Global has opened 27 branches across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, America, and Asia.
Taylor Wessing was born in a 2002 merger between firms Taylor Joynson Garrett and Wessing & Berenberg-Gossler. In March, the firm cemented a strategic alliance with Italian firm Orsingher Ortu - Avvocati Associati.
At present, Taylor Wessing employs 1,250 lawyers.
Winston & Strawn, which employs 1,000 attorneys, relocated its Chicago office to 300 North LaSalle earlier this month. It also appointed new leaders last year in chairman Steve D’Amore and Chicago office managing partner William O’Neil.
The firm was embroiled in a copyright infringement lawsuit alleging that its attorneys plagiarized a court filing from Boston patent law firm Hsuanyeh Law Group. The two firms reached a settlement last year.
The news of this possible merger comes after Ashurst and Perkins Coie announced that they were merging into Ashurst Perkins Coie last month.
In August, A&O Shearman, the entity resulting from the merger between Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling, reported US$3.7 billion in client revenue in its first year of operations.
