DWF Group Annual Report 2015

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FY2015 Annual Report · DWF Group

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Annual Review 2014–2015

Reshaping the
legal landscape

Understanding our clients • Engaging our people • Doing things differently

Including financial statements for year ending 30 April 2015

Contents

In this review

Financial Review

Welcome
The legal landscape is changing

Sustainability matters
Ty Jones

Members’ Report

Members’ Responsibilities
Statement

Independent Auditor’s Report

Group Profit and Loss Account

Group and LLP Balance Sheets

Group Cash Flow Statement

Notes to the Financial Statements 41

Highlights
Vital Statistics

Doing thing differently
Alan Benzie

Always aim higher
Andrew Leaitherland

Attend to details
Carol Thompson

Disrupt to progress
Paul Berry

Be better together
Stephen Miles

Creating tomorrow’s world
Richard Hodkinson

Delivery - part of our DNA
Andrew Chamberlain

Connect and communicate
Catherine Williams

Our Values

Aiming for excellence
Deborah Abraham

What clients say

Strategic Board

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Welcome

We recognise that the legal landscape is changing. Clients are
at the heart of what we do and in today’s business environment,
they want more value from their legal teams, greater transparency
and an adaptable, flexible approach.

This calls for something different from legal
service providers. At DWF, innovative thinking
is part of our DNA.

We are committed to doing things differently
and embracing market changes, whether
it’s our way of using the latest technology,
building a new range of services outside the
traditional legal offering or engaging with our
people on community issues.

It’s a unique and alternative approach to
delivering legal services.

We have a platform of three core service
areas for clients; technical legal services,
technology-based products and delivery
services, which incorporate packaged legal
services, cutting-edge technological solutions
and bespoke methods of delivering our legal
expertise. This distinct infrastructure and
focused approach underpins our ability to do
things differently and meet client needs.

At DWF, it’s not just what we deliver, but how
we do it.

It all begins at home. The DWF culture is
one of innovation, which is hard-wired
into our business objectives. We engage
with and listen to all our people – over
2,300 across the UK, Europe and the Middle
East – and ensure that they are working
proactively together to create an outstanding
client experience.

We also take the time to understand what
our clients want and we care about doing
things differently to meet their needs,
placing them at the heart of our thinking
and innovation.

DWF’s distinctive range of integrated
services shapes our delivery model, which
offers clients greater flexibility and efficiency
in how we deliver services to them, and
how they resource their own work. We firmly
believe that the continued development
of new products and solutions is key to a
proactive legal services provider, which
is always seeking to add value to every
client relationship.

At the heart of doing things differently, we
are pioneering new methods to make legal
services more transparent, that allows us to
add more value and to deliver legal solutions
that enable our clients to excel.

DWF is more than just a law firm - we are a
legal business.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Highlights
2014-15

Revenue

£191
million

Net profit

*
£46.7
million

*before tax attributable to all members of the LLP

Winner

‘Legal Innovator of the Year’
at the Legal Business Awards 2015

‘Best Leadership of Innovation’
and ‘Best Managed Workplace’
at the Managing Partners’ Forum for
Management Excellence 2015

‘Law Firm Innovation’ and
‘Best Use of Technology’
at the British Legal Awards 2014

Andrew Leaitherland named
‘Management
Partner of the Year’
at the Legal Business Awards 2014

“The team has an
extremely dynamic
approach and are very
commercially savvy”
Chambers and Partners 2014

“...at this law firm things are not business
as usual. This firm has a track record of
launching products – for example a 24-hour
Crisis Response Service that helps clients
respond to a crisis immediately, whether it
be legal, psychological or strategic response.”

Managing Partners’ Forum 2015

DWF named in the top five for
most recommended
lawyers in the UK

by Legal 500 UK 2015

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

61
8.6

Net Promoter Score
Clients’ propensity to recommend
DWF to others

out of 10 Client
satisfaction score

*before tax attributable to all members of the LLP

Birmingham

8 London

Bristol

Dublin

Edinburgh

Manchester

Milton Keynes

Newcastle

Glasgow

Preston

Leeds

Dubai

Liverpool

locations

Practice groups
• Corporate & Banking
• Litigation
• Real Estate
• Motor, Fraud & Claimant
• Cat. Pl, Occupational Health & Casualty
• Professional Indemnity & Commercial Insurance

Sectors
• Central & Local Government
• Energy & Industrials
• Financial Services
• Retail, Food & Hospitality
• Technology
• Transport

293*

Partners & Directors

2,300*+

People

Partner level lateral hires

*as at 30 April 2015

We work with

22%

of the FTSE 250

30%

of the FTSE 100

100%

FSC Paper purchased

on target to achieve

10%

paper reduction

80%

target achieved for recycling

2.6

tonnes of carbon emissions per person per year
(4% reduction on last year)

74% of employees
have taken part in
‘development activities’

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Chairman’s Statement

Doing things
differently

Alan Benzie
Chairman

Alan Benzie, Chairman of DWF, discusses how DWF’s values
have enabled the firm to do things differently and helped it to
focus on the future.

Doing things differently

With increasing cost pressures on our clients’
legal budgets, the way our clients like to
work is changing; they are looking for value in
their legal partnerships. The increasing focus
on value, particularly in commercial work,
is leading to a focus on delivery and client
relationships. In response, we are focusing
on developing DWF in a way that will help
our clients and meet their changing needs,
as well as continuing to build our professional
expertise. We aim to do things differently, to
be innovative, and to offer clients a flexible
approach to tackling their issues. We are
increasingly using technology throughout
DWF; not only to enable our own internal
efficiencies, but also to communicate with
clients, to give information and to educate
them on the work we are doing for their
organisations. The client is seeing what we
are seeing. Transparency is now a feature of
modern service provision.

DWF has enjoyed continuous growth in
recent years, bolstered by the significant
M&A activity that took place between 2012-
2015. Much of our focus over the last 12
months has been on ensuring that, as a firm,
we are fully integrated and that all our people
feel part of a common DWF structure. Our
attention to developing the structure and the
solid foundation of the business has built
a strong foothold for future years, and has
inevitably impacted on our financial results
for 2014-15. This does not detract from our
underlying financial strength and recurring
revenue and profit, which underpins our
platform for growth.

Divisional performances

While the markets we operate in are
changing, in no small measure due to the
post global financial crisis economic recovery
and regulatory changes in the industry, the
uniqueness of DWF’s business model allows
us to take advantage of cyclical markets. The
current swing of commercial business over
insurance is a good example of this.

The Insurance industry has been challenged
for two decades. As genuine business
partners to that industry, it is incumbent on
us to work with those clients to reduce costs,
which in our case means reduced revenues.
That doesn’t always mean reduced profits
in our Divisions. The claims business has
slowed, as has litigation frequency, along with
more selective use of lawyers and ongoing
pricing pressures. New ways of working
and resourcing means we are winning
new work and preserving long-standing
relationships. We are winning new clients
and we have an increasing presence in the
London and International Markets. Insurance
is an important market for us and we see a
number of opportunities in 2015-16.

Performance in our Commercial Services
Division has been strong and we have
established DWF as a go-to legal firm.
This is clear from the high quality of our
clients, which is increasing year-on-year.
This is based on our excellent reputation for
producing quality results, in a commercial,
business focused way with a close
understanding of our clients’ needs and
strategy. We have the best interests of our
clients at heart. This has allowed us, in turn,
to grow DWF and we are very excited and
optimistic about the commercial side of
our business.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Alan Benzie

We aim to do things differently, to be
innovative, and to offer clients a flexible
approach to tackling their issues.

continue to encourage them to make
suggestions on improving their own ways of
working and delivering to clients. We work
hard at recognising the qualities of all our
people and we want to ensure that they can
fulfil their careers at DWF. They say it is an
exciting and vibrant place to work and very
much “new law”.

The Strategic Board

As DWF’s Chairman, I want to ensure we
achieve our budget, that our processes allow
our professional people to deliver on their
work and financial results, and that our senior
people are still learning and leading. Our
Strategic Board works to ensure we achieve
our strategic aims. Its responsibility is also
to keep check on operational developments
and ideas.

Delivering services

It is important that we flexibly deliver services
to clients. To do this, we need to build a
rapport with each client, taking a far more
open approach and having a common aim.
To my mind, this is an obvious ‘bread and
butter’ approach, but it is rarely truly adopted
in the legal world. Our IT investment, in part,
has been in this area and we are ahead of the
game in the sector, sharing data real-time.

Engaging with our people

I have a great admiration for our people. They
work tremendously hard and should be proud
of what we have achieved as a business.
We want to ensure that we are engaging our
people, developing and supporting them and
working together. The DWF culture is one
where people work collaboratively: thinking
about each other and trying their best for the
client and the firm, and our strategic thrust
and values are built around this approach.
We have spent a long time understanding
what our people want DWF to be, and our
resulting values have forged the culture and
loyalty we enjoy. DWF people know they have
the DWF values of being better together,
disrupting to progress, attending to details,
keeping all promises and aiming higher.
We are listening to our people and we

Outlook for 2015-2016

DWF is growing; we work hard to understand
what our clients want, and match this with
a professional expertise. This is backed up
by our peer group rankings, where we are
amongst the leaders on client satisfaction
and professional competence. Over the next
year, I want us to increase our net profit and
margins, leveraging our previous investments
in areas such as technology, and keep our
momentum moving forward.

With a robust operating and governance
structure in place, our work is now to ensure
that our processes and systems can support
DWF’s £200m business.

DWF can be a top 15 legal business. I want
to see this both financially and in terms of
professional expertise, and I would like this
to be recognised by our clients, our people
and our peers. I want DWF to be known as
the people who have innovative ideas, and
the team the clients want to work with. We
already go the extra mile and we will remain
at the forefront of doing things differently and,
ultimately, reshaping the legal landscape.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Always
aim higher

Andrew Leaitherland
Managing Partner & CEO

Andrew Leaitherland, Managing Partner & CEO at DWF,
discusses how changing the delivery of legal services is essential
in the current market place and how the philosophy of ‘doing
things differently’ is central to the DWF strategy.

Creating a different user experience

For me, it’s not just about what we do
– it’s how we do it. This, ultimately, is
what differentiates us from many of our
competitors. Doing things differently runs
throughout our DNA and defines our strategy.

I believe there’s a real opportunity to simplify
and demystify legal services. Most law firms
are traditional in their approach; they are
also people-intensive and cautious. DWF’s
mission is to turn that on its head. Our
strategy is to create a completely different
client experience in the market place. We
have the drive, passion and opportunity to
turn this industry inside out.

A different approach

I am encouraged that DWF’s work is
recognised in the wider industry. Over the
past year, we have won a host of accolades
for our innovations including Legal Business’
Innovator of the Year award, and we’ve been
short-listed as one of Europe’s 50 most
innovative law firms by the FT for the second
year running. This is vital in the context of
the market. With a pick-up in transactional
activity over the past year, the good times

seem to be back for many firms. For those
firms, there’s little incentive to change their
approach to using legal services. There is a
real opportunity for DWF to engage with our
clients and understand their needs in order
to develop alternative ways to work with
legal businesses, which will have a dramatic
impact on the legal marketplace.

A strategy for growth

Going forwards, we will continue to roll out
the three core strands to our strategy:

• Understanding our clients. Law firms
often fail to talk in depth to clients; they
assume that they know what they need
and offer a standard solution. Our flexible
approach means we engage and find out
what clients need, and develop a

solution together.

• Engaging with and listening to our people.
Our vision and values work a few years
ago means we have a real culture of
innovation, which is hard-wired into our
business objectives. Our people pull
together in the same direction, with
the aim of creating an outstanding
client experience.

• Doing things differently. Innovative thinking
is key. Whether this is through our clever
approach to using technology, our range
of services beyond legal advice, or simply
by turning an approach on its head to
increase efficiency and effectiveness.

Channelling innovation

For 2014, the focus was to launch the DWF
strategy internally and to engage with our
people. In my experience, best ideas in a
business come from the people who are
dealing with clients and their issues on a
day-to-day basis. Business leaders need
to ensure there are no artificial barriers and
blockages to innovation. We make sure
that our people feel enthused and have the
opportunity to bring their ideas to fruition.
This is something we work very hard to
deliver on at DWF. Over the past year, DWF
has launched a range of technical solutions,
both internal and client-facing. They have
allowed us to deliver our services more
efficiently and to improve the way we engage
with clients, but we recognise there is so
much more we can do.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Andrew Leaitherland

We have the drive, passion and
opportunity to turn this industry
inside out.

Technological developments

We are proud of our innovative culture, and
providing a central hub for this innovation
is our technology incubator 15squared. It
builds ideas, creates our products and sells
them through the DWF business. dwf draft
is an automation product, which combines
our legal know-how with market-leading
document automation software. dwf link,
our client engagement platform, has received
fantastic plaudits from clients about client
engagement. Feedback from clients on
new-build products such as dwf pinpoint,
our asset management tool, is that there’s
nothing like this on the market. We are
genuinely doing something different and our
clients have really embraced this.

Sector growth

We have started working with an increasing
number of major clients over the past 12
months, on the back of how we deliver
our legal services and our approach to the
use of technology. Our activity in various
sectors continues to be a direct reflection
of the cyclical market. Real Estate is a rising

market and we’ve benefitted from growth in
this sector. Transport has also been strong,
while Insurance Services continues to be
challenging. About 46% of our business is
now in Insurance; it continues to be a core
market for DWF and we are a leading firm
with great market penetration, but we
expect stronger growth over next year in
Commercial Services.

In Financial Services, we have seen an
increase in work with Crowdfunders, away
from our core client base of mainstream
clearing banks. In Retail, there is increasing
overlap with other sectors, such as Transport,
and a change in demand for the types of
legal services we now provide, with more
data protection and commercial contracts
work. M&A activity still dominates the
marketplace, and we expect there will
be more capital value transactions with
alternative funding structures.

Outlook for 2015-2016

We will continue to become more
international in our outlook. Our move this
year into Dubai has been successful and
supported our international push, building
on our infrastructure work. We will selectively
open more offices and remain client-led. If a
client provides the opportunity, allowing us to
de-risk the move, we will consider it.

Our big push remains in technology. Next
year, we want to commercialise more
technology products and focus on process
efficiency. dwf link allows the client to have
their own portal to log in to the system and
see everything they need, engaging with their
DWF team online, and we will be launching
every new client onto dwf link this year. We
will continue to embed our strategy, vision
and values amongst our people. Our people
are the key to our success and ensuring that
we shape the right culture will ultimately put
us in a position to deliver.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Attend to details

Carol Thompson
CEO of Central Services (Interim)

To understand DWF, its place in a rapidly evolving legal services
market and therefore its underlying economic strength, you need to
look past the traditional law firm KPI’s and metrics. New measures
and new value levers will become the norm as the operating model
changes to match market requirements, new delivery methods for
service and different approaches to working with clients.

Sector growth

So, it’s not all about focusing on the lead
financials, our business is a mixture of the
traditional and the next generation, all on
the one balance sheet. The past three years
have been a period of investment for DWF,
be that inorganic or inward investment, and
the last twelve months have been no different.
Whilst not losing focus on the fundamentals
which drive margin and deliver cash, focus on
delivery of an even better client experience is
where we continue to break new ground in
technology and in the market.

Highlights

DWF’s revenues increased to £191m for
2014-15, an increase of 1% from the previous
year. Operating profits fell from £51.5m in
2013-14 to £47.7m. The strongest revenue
growth came in Corporate & Banking, up 3%
to £32m and Real Estate, up 8% to £32m.

We’ve seen strong growth in a number of areas of the business, including those highlighted here:

Revenue
2014-15

2013-14

Growth

Gross Margin
2013-14

2014-15

Growth

Commercial
Services

102,293

99,141

3.2%

46,667

45,927

1.6%

Insurance Services

89,559

89,012

0.6%

37,131

37,878

-2.0%

Other

(719)

850

130.3%

(52)

(41)

27.8%

Group Total

191,133

189,003

1.1%

83,746

83,765

0.0%

Our reputation for excellence continues to
spread, and during the year our bid-and-win
rate saw several new significant blue-chip
clients joining our large and reputable client
hub. This underlines our progress in both our
Commercial and Insurance sectors.

In order to service this growth efficiently,
DWF has invested in skills and lateral hires,
along with innovative IT solutions, to deliver

legal business services to clients in a cost-
effective way.

Good examples of this successful approach
are dwf draft, DWF’s Legal Process
Management team and dwf link, our client
extranet. All of these are being warmly
welcomed by our clients and driving margin
improvements into the future; justifying our
investment over previous years.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Carol Thompson

We choose to push through to ensure
the business is match-fit for the legal
services market.

The ability to know which skills are best
aligned to client need, to be responsive to
client cost management and to ensure value
is preserved, goes to create long-lasting
and productive relationships based on
understanding the strategies and objectives
of both enterprises.

The better DWF knows the client, the better
our tailored service and cost efficiency of the
product to match. We don’t use the one-
size-fits-all approach.

Quality of Earnings

A better understanding of what we do well
means we have chosen to re-focus on
parts of our client base where we want to
do more, while actively moving away from
some engagements where we felt the quality
of long-term earnings wasn’t in the joint
interest of the relationship. The net effect is a
rebalancing of the spread of our client base
to increase the quality of our earnings. This
will not only strengthen existing revenues
but also gives us the opportunity to develop
these revenues over future years. It forms part
of a conscious move towards having client
relationships that we think will have multi-year
benefits. Recurring revenues are good right
now, through client retention, quality of service
execution and value creation; we intend them
to be market leading.

We work hard to develop strong client
relationships with a true partnership
approach. As a result we enjoy a low level of
client churn; 85% of our clients have been
with us for five years or more.

Divisional performance

Commercial / Insurance
The changing mix of our revenues, with the
growth in commercial practice revenues,
has resulted in an improvement in our gross
margin yield from 43.6% last year to 44.1%
in 2014-15 after GM restructuring costs
(44.6% 2014 to 44.1% 2015 without).
The Commercial Services division is
increasing in terms of revenue contribution
to the overall DWF business mix. This
is a key strand of our strategy to grow
our commercial business; an excellent
complement to our highly cash-generative
high recurring Insurance Services division.

Commercial enjoys attractive margins and
enduring client relationships and we envisage
the practice continuing to become a bigger
part of our business; recent performance is
encouraging and velocity and win rate puts us
on target for our three year growth ambitions.

Challenges

As in all businesses with changing market
conditions, both at the macro-economic level,
but also shape shifting at the geographic and
skill group level, we have faced our share of
challenges over the past year.

Some of these growing pains are due to
the choices we have made on the pace
and nature of evolution we choose to push
through to ensure the business is match fit
for the legal services market. We want to
be on the pitch first with the best team and
we want to do all of this with the unique
DWF approach to delivering a top-level
client service without any compromise on
service quality. I’m delighted that we have
been successful in maintaining a very high

standard of service, as evidenced by our Net
Promoter Score (NPS) which was 61 this year.

Despite our ambitious agenda, we have
managed to effect change without letting our
clients down, and we continue to break new
ground in delivering legal services.

Outlook for 2015-2016

For me, the past year has been about getting
the business match-fit and ensuring we have
invested adequately in the business, so we
can share the benefits of excellent cost-
effective service delivery in partnership with
our clients. The benefits of this approach will
flow for many years to come, to both clients
and to DWF.

As we look back on the seven mergers and
investments made, we are now enjoying a
period of reward as they become embedded
within the business and are yielding financial
and operational benefit. We will continue
to selectively look for more beneficial
acquisitions of this nature in the future, as
long as it fits into our strategic plan and
operational framework.

Whilst profit per equity partner has
temporarily reduced over the year, we
understand where we invested and why, and
more importantly, having done that, we are
forecasting a return to form this year and we
are on track to deliver in Q1 2015-16.

All indicators are positive as we write this
report, giving comfort that 2015-2016 will be
a strong year for the business.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Revenue

Gross Margin

2014-15

2013-14

Growth

2014-15

2013-14

Growth

Commercial

102,293

99,141

3.2%

46,667

45,927

1.6%

Services

Insurance Services

89,559

89,012

0.6%

37,131

37,878

-2.0%

Other

(719)

850

130.3%

(52)

(41)

27.8%

Group Total

191,133

189,003

1.1%

83,746

83,765

0.0%

Disrupt to
progress

Paul Berry
CEO Insurance Services

Paul Berry, CEO of DWF’s Insurance Services Division, describes
his total focus on how the team are delivering legal services and
its positive impact on the client experience.

We have had a busy 12 months in Insurance
Services, with a clear strategy for growth,
focusing on how we deliver for our clients and
develop our service proposition in each area.

I’m delighted that our 900 strong Insurance
team, which now includes 200 people at 20
Fenchurch Street in London, is now regarded
as a national heavyweight in the insurance
market, and we are determined to keep up
the momentum. With consolidation both in
the insurance and legal sector and ongoing
regulatory change leading to a reduction in
litigation frequency, the steps we have taken
in recent years to diversify our offerings have
enabled us to thrive in what is currently quite
a disrupted market.

We remain a full service Insurance team,
handling thousands of outsourced motor,
casualty and property claims on an annual
basis, whilst continuing to handle the most
high value, complex and often sensitive
claims for our clients.

We’ve also had significant new client wins,
including Direct Line Group, Ecclesiastical
Insurance and DHL to name but a few.
Other highlights include the merger with
niche insurance specialists Watmores, and
the appointment of a new National Head of
Counter Fraud, Lorraine Carolan.

A traditional market

Reduced litigation frequency, selective use
of lawyers and pricing pressures are all
impacting legal operators in the insurance
industry. At the same time, the legal
market remains relatively traditional, lacking
innovation. While there is talk of change,
lawyers are generally most comfortable
talking about technical and specialist
work. This environment presents a great
opportunity for DWF, with our focus on
truly understanding our client’s business
objectives and our culture of innovation and
strategic focus on doing things differently.

Investing in technology

We feel that there is a real opening in our
marketplace to disrupt and bring change. We
are responding to evolving market demands
by adjusting our business model. DWF’s
business is driven by a desire to differentiate
and improve its delivery to clients. Our core
product is delivering legal services, and we
aim to constantly innovate in terms of how
we deliver these. Consequently, over the last
12 months, the Insurance Services Division
has significantly invested in technology
and process review in order to offer the
high quality and low cost service required
in volume areas. It is no longer about a

traditional law firm set up, but about moving
towards target operating models and correct
leverage ratios.

Use of data is key to our strategy, as we seek
not only to demonstrate the value that we
bring, but also to provide enhanced analysis
of our clients’ business data and ensure
that the intelligence produced can be used
to help drive improvements in their own
performance. For example, having collected
data for many years, we now have a large
databank which is allowing us to increasingly
use predictive analysis to help our clients
understand trends in their business and
guide their litigation and claims strategy.
It can demonstrate to clients how much
they should invest in cases based on likely
outcome; in turn, this helps to keep legal
costs down. It is some way off true Artificial
Intelligence, but it’s already assisting our
clients in reserving and controlling real-time
claims costs and risk management.

At the other end of the spectrum, the quality
of our market leading Catastrophic Injury,
Property, Professional Negligence and
Occupational Health teams enables us to
handle many of our clients most sensitive
high value claims. I have been delighted
with the progress that our Marine team has
made. Also the quality of our international

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Paul Berry

This market situation presents a great
opportunity for DWF, with our culture of
innovation and strategic focus on doing
things differently, we will embrace this.

and sensitive claims this year, often with
intense media coverage. Our award winning
dwf crisis response service has been a
particular success, and our list of commercial
clients and public authorities that nominate
us to handle claims and regulatory issues
continues to grow.

Finally, our investment in our non-contentious
Commercial Insurance team in London has
broadened our offering to the insurance
market beyond claims. With regulatory
and outsourcing specialists, and our DPA
specialists combined with our Corporate
experts, our dedicated Insurance team is
increasingly supporting existing and new
clients. It’s relatively early days but we’ve had
a promising start.

DWF recognise the need for innovation. By
combining technical excellence with a deep
understanding of the sector challenges and
opportunities, we are confident that we
can deliver measurable value to our clients,
becoming viewed not only as legal suppliers
but also as strategic business partners. This
market situation presents a great opportunity
for DWF, with our culture of innovation and
strategic focus on doing things differently, we
will embrace this.

claims work across many jurisdictions.
Whilst high quality specialist lawyers remain
absolutely key in this area, we are harnessing
our learnings from volume areas to develop
processes and management information
giving us and our clients much greater
control, thus managing risk. Additionally, our
aim is to make legal services more readily
accessible, empowering clients by providing
them with insight. Our products, such as
dwf sonar and our dwf deafness toolkit,
are moves towards facilitating this approach.

A Strategic Client Partner

A key element of our Insurance Services
strategy is to build our client interaction with
clients, talking to them, understanding the
sector challenges, their business objectives
and their financial and operational challenges.
Ultimately, our aim is to deliver measureable
value and to demonstrate a clear return on
their investment. By developing a new joint
account planning approach, we are able
to link the legal services DWF can provide
with each client’s corporate objectives and
business goals. This is very much at the
forefront of our strategy of ‘understanding
clients’. We develop a cohesive client
programme, which then forms a joint account
plan, and helps us to understand what
each client really needs from its lawyers and
how we can support and contribute to their
business goals.

A good example of our approach to doing
things differently is our Intelligence Unit which
works closely with insurers and underwriters
to help them assess case risk and profile.
Over the past year, we’ve invested in
technology to support the team in profiling
and screening cases, and washing data,
as well as supporting our clients in their
underwriting and claims processes and the
development of their own internal intelligence
systems. D:cypher, our database, will soon
be available online to key clients as we seek
to support them in the claims validation
process. We have also invested heavily in
further developing our case management
system, working with our clients to introduce
cost-capping tools to promote clear controls
in areas where fixed fees are not applied.

How we deliver products and services needs
to be supported through our continued
investment in the right people. To enable us
to provide a rounded service to clients, we
have recruited into dwf consulting industry
experts in areas such as telematics, claims
audit and claims analytics. This will allow us to
support our clients in achieving their objectives.

Increasing the reach and supporting our
commercial clients

DWF has a strong reputation as a leading
insurance litigation firm, and our focus
now includes increasing our international
profile. Two of our fastest growing offices
are Dublin and Dubai, and the scope of our
international claims work handled primarily
in London continues to develop rapidly. But
it is not just insurers that we are focused on.
Our Insurance and Regulatory teams have
been involved in some of the highest profile

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

CEO of Commercial Services’ Statement

Be better together

Stephen Miles
CEO Commercial Services

Stephen Miles, CEO of Commercial Services at DWF,
is passionate that connectivity is the key to success.

dwf pinpoint, our asset management tool,
has been a key differentiator for us. We
have also focused on improving efficiency
by using our dwf draft tool to speed up the
production of documents in various areas.

Corporate Services at DWF covers
transactional M&A and private equity work,
commercial contracts, data protection,
intellectual property and IT. It also covers our
Private Client, Tax and Banking teams.

The core Corporate team is performing
strongly across the UK and is starting to work
on more international transactions involving,
for example, Europe. A strong Corporate
team also means that our Private Client
and Tax teams are busy providing critical
support. The Banking team is very busy and
we are really starting to see the benefits of
our investments in this team over the last
12 to 18 months, broadening the banking
and real estate finance offering for a number
of our clients. All of our institutional client
relationships are showing significant growth.
As well as developing these institutional
clients on the back of transactional work,
our Commercial team is developing key
relationships with clients, such as Serco, in
relation to business critical advisory work.

Litigation is the largest area in Commercial
Services, in terms of both headcount
and revenue. As the economy has begun
to improve, Litigation has had to work
harder to remain busy. It has done so by
focusing on specialisms and sectors. Our
Commercial Litigation team has worked on
some high profile matters, increasingly with
an international element, connecting well
with our new office in Dubai. Our Specialist
Litigation team, which includes the Family
Law team, has developed a market leading
reputation in the consumer/retail finance
market, acting for leading clients such as
Santander and MotoNovo Finance. Our
specialist Regulatory team is performing
strongly, with a focus on providing business
critical advice to our leading corporate and
commercial clients with a market leading
reputation in the areas of food regulation
and corporate manslaughter. Our Pensions
team, in both England and Scotland, is busy
on complex transactions for a number of
important clients. Although we have had to
restructure our Employment team, it is now
performing much better under the leadership
of Andrew Chamberlain, who joined us
during the year as our National Head of
Employment Law.

We have had a strong 12 months with all
three core practice groups in Commercial
Services delivering good results. DWF’s M&A
activity has also continued to contribute to
our growth in 2014-15. This brings both
opportunity, in terms of client development,
and challenges, as we look to bring our
people together across locations and
practice groups.

Divisional performance

Over the past year, the Real Estate team
has been very busy reflecting a growing and
buoyant real estate market across the UK.
There are lots of opportunities and we have
had success moving into more complex
work both in London and the regions,
winning work from international funds.
Our Scottish team has also been very busy
acting on some of Scotland’s major property
developments and supporting other locations
on cross-border portfolio transactions.
Increasingly, we are seen as one of the
leading Real Estate firms, not only by
developers in our local regions but by large
international funds looking at the UK and
Europe. On the back of this, the Real Estate
practice group has been the fastest growing
group in Commercial Services. We are
keen to be known in Real Estate for doing
things differently and the introduction of

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Stephen Miles

Connectivity is a key word. We have
some excellent clients and we want to
build on these existing relationships.

The importance of connectivity

Our focus over the last 12 months has been
to pull together these three practice groups
in Commercial Services and build a relevant
structure from which we can grow, as well
as creating a Commercial Services identity
similar to the Insurance Services Division with
a focus on certain key clients, fundamental
behaviours and common objectives.

Our strategy is simple. We want to connect
more with each other to do more work for
our clients and create more value for them,
as well as creating internal efficiencies for
our own business. These objectives are not
mutually exclusive and eminently achievable,
if we do things differently. In fact, it is in our
core values to be ‘better together’.

Connectivity is a key word. We have some
excellent clients and we want to build on
these existing relationships. To do this, we
must connect more across locations and
practice groups within Commercial Services.

Creating the right structure

If we want to truly harness the effectiveness
of our combined skills and experience and
create a competitive differentiator, we must
connect across the business and work
together. Last year, we started at the top and
connected the practice group partners for

each of Corporate Services, Litigation and
Real Estate by initiating monthly leadership
team meetings. We were also joined at these
meetings by the Commercial Services COO
and the Head of HR Business Partners for
Commercial Services. There is now a clearly
identifiable leadership team for Commercial
Services as a whole.

Having embedded the new Commercial
Services Senior Leadership team, we
reviewed the structures of the three
separate practice groups and created a
new leadership team for each one. We
consolidated several practice areas within
each practice group and also appointed
new client, finance and people partners in
each group. This has given the division a
clear structure across all the practice groups,
allowing us to communicate key elements
of our business plan more easily and with
increased clarity.

Improving performance

In changing the structure of the practice
areas and the practice group leadership
teams, we have brought everyone much
closer together with a clearer understanding
of how they fit into their practice group, and,
most importantly, Commercial Services.
Everyone has a greater awareness of
the different skills and experience within

Commercial Services. We are using our
expertise much more effectively to develop
our key client relationships and improve
financial performance generally. We are
also broadening our client relationships
and delivering more value to our clients by
connecting more across our locations and
practice groups. In line with our value to
‘always aim higher’, we are seeing a renewed
confidence in our Commercial Services
teams, reflected in an increase in the quality
and type of work that our clients ask us to
support them on.

Changing culture

As a result of our focus on connectivity,
we are seeing a change in the Commercial
Services culture. Our people now understand
it is not just about how one practice group
performs, it is about how all three perform.
It is about being ‘better together’. It is about
understanding what each practice group
is looking to achieve and working together
to help each practice group achieve its
objectives. We are much more joined up.

With the new structures in place, greater
clarity on what each of us is trying to achieve
and with a constant focus on connectivity,
we are very well placed to strengthen and
broaden client relationships at the same time
as increasing internal efficiencies.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Creating
tomorrow’s
world

Richard Hodkinson
Chief Technology Officer

Richard Hodkinson, Chief Technology Officer, is spearheading
DWF’s use of technology, as the business leads on innovation.
Where is tomorrow going to take us?

Technology is at the heart of DWF. We
understand the need to invest in technology
and create a difference in the marketplace.
My work extends further than the assumed
daily ‘lights on’ IT management. I make it my
purpose to understand what the tech market
is providing and matching that to DWF’s
needs and, more importantly, the needs of
the DWF client.

Adapting a modern approach

Others from outside the legal sector may
consider law firms to be far from the cutting
edge or miles off the pace, and they’d be
wrong. DWF strives to do things differently
and to offer service levels that are parallel
with other providers of customer services.
There is a significant focus on creating a
technological capability that meets the
expectations of today’s clients. We need
to build a more digital experience for those
clients that demand it and to be faithful to
the firm’s key strategies of ‘doing things
differently’ and ‘understanding our clients’.

The technology strategy

Always aim higher

DWF’s technology strategy operates on
three fronts. Firstly, we deliver an efficient
‘business as usual’ circumstance that the
business can rely on and trust in order
to remain competitive. Like water from
a tap, it just has to be there. Secondly,
regulatory pressure means that an element
of technology investment is made to
improve the firm’s compliance and security
posture. Lastly, customer demand means
we use technology as a point of difference
in delivering our service to the client. Getting
the best from any technology investment
remains a challenge; many people in many
locations using many systems means that,
in order to reap the maximum benefit, we
have to continue to invest and use a range
of training tools and techniques. Getting the
current blend of systems and processes
better connected, to make for an easier and
more enjoyable daily experience, is still work
in progress. Our merger activity introduced
several products, much more data and new
working practices that have taken time to
align. For sure, we need to be simplifying
working life – less is more in this case.

We analyse many aspects of our internal
processes, using techniques traditionally
used in manufacturing. It’s a more forensic
approach - using six sigma methodologies
to expose any points of process weakness
or inefficiency, and to understand whether
we can introduce alternative solutions.
Work continues to incrementally improve
the processes embedded in the firm’s
case management systems and we are
accelerating work in this area as the
market changes around us. Introducing
Microsoft Lync moved the business forward
in collaborative terms. And there’s more:
dwf draft, our new automated document
assembly tool for large documents such as
leases or share purchase agreements, is
saving hours of drafting for our lawyers. It
enables us to provide a more efficient and
better value service to the client, as well as
giving a good level of information.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Richard Hodkinson

Technology has a role in making legal
services more transparent and my goal is
to deliver on DWF’s promise to do things
differently.

I sense there is an appetite for law firms to
be more than just law firms. The professional
services sector has a reticence to share its
crown jewels, and without a doubt the legal
subject matter can be complex. DWF has
the capacity and people to be different in
a big way. Technology has a role in making
legal services more transparent and my goal
is to deliver on DWF’s promise to do things
differently, so all clients view DWF as an open
book, not as a traditional law firm.

Meeting client needs

We are not just focusing on our internal IT
services; we also have a passion to assist
with the attraction and retention of clients.
dwf link is our client engagement platform
or ‘front door’ to the firm’s information and
services. Using this portal, clients have the
ability to collaborate with their legal team,
see sector and client specific news, access
events and view all documents on cases.
The current line of development will improve
its scalability by including features such as
online matter inception, digital signing and
bill transparency.

Disrupt to progress

The difficulty is that some clients just don’t
know what they want from a law firm.
They are tired of seeing the same old suits
promoting the same old services, and want
to see what else law firms can do and how
we can do it.

15squared, our technology incubator, is
DWF’s answer to that. Currently we have
three core products; dwf pinpoint (our
asset management tool); dwf claimbase (a
cloud-based solution for managing claims
for insureds); and dwf notify (an app to help

with crisis events). We are developing more
including audit tools, complaint handlings,
online training and specialist toolkits. It’s
unusual for law firms to add value to its
clients by offering a range of software, but
it underpins two of DWF’s key strategic
themes; ‘understanding our clients’ and
‘doing things differently’.

The next evolution

We are ready to push on to the next phase
of evolution. It’s an exciting time and it
is important that DWF continues to be a
standout firm from a technology perspective.
Our focus will continue to work on internal
improvement processes and service
excellence. Artificial Intelligence /expert
systems that can help with decision making
will define the next decade of the legal market
place. Using modern methods and challenging
the status quo, we can explore the potential of
improving the price point and quality of work
being done by removing routine and low grade
activities. Such systems will review material
and compare with previous experiences
to more quickly guide the practitioner to a
successful outcome.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Delivery - part of
our DNA

Andrew Chamberlain
Chair of Service Delivery Executive

Andrew Chamberlain, Chair of DWF’s Service Delivery Executive,
explains how the business is working to embrace changes in the
legal sector and bring a fresh approach to delivering legal services.

DWF is the new kid on the block. We are a
challenger brand with something distinctive
to offer. A major part of my role, together with
our Service Delivery Executive, is to develop
how we deliver our legal services, to ensure
we are competing effectively in a fiercely
competitive market.

The changing market

There are increasing pressures on the legal
sector. It is no secret: there is significant
oversupply and there will be continuing
consolidation. Changes to the regulatory
framework have opened up the legal market
and brought new entrants including non-
lawyers, who are challenging the status
quo. Our clients are also becoming more
demanding, and are looking for ways to
keep costs down while maintaining strong
service delivery; for example, in-house legal
teams want to access legal services in new
ways, while corporate management (outside
the legal department) increasingly wants to
address legal budgets. Too many lawyers
have had it good for too long.

Doing things differently

Instead of reacting to market changes, we
should embrace them. This is an opportunity
to bring a fresh approach to legal services in
a market where it is difficult to differentiate.
We should demonstrate how we are looking
at both internal process efficiency and how
we can deliver services better. For some law
firms, this could mean identifying elements
of work that are suitable for less-qualified
lawyers, using more technology, and
considering partnership with other law firms
and lower cost providers. Other established
law firms have identified and delivered a
tactical change in the way they operate.
However, this is not just a box-ticking
exercise, and few operators have adopted a
whole-scale change to the way they deliver
services to embrace a new model of working.

Creating efficiencies

DWF’s opportunity is to build a holistic
response to these changes and therefore
seek to differentiate our offering from that of
many of our competitors. We are fortunate
that as a relatively new law firm, we are not
encumbered by a traditional platform with
outdated technology. We can build our own,

at the same time creating not only efficiencies
but also ways to ensure the consistent quality
of our work.

Matching process and delivery

Process is a dirty word for most lawyers, but
by understanding our processes, we can
identify the straightforward tasks present in
all legal work. Some estimates would put
such tasks at 25 – 30% of all commercial
legal work. Over the past year, we have been
working to identify different internal process
chains which will enable us to identify the
right task for the right level of resource,
and also opportunities for standardised
documentation. This involves process
mapping, which looks for efficiencies and
quality improvements.

Disrupt to progress

A new development in 2015 has been the
launch of our Legal Support Centre. We
have brought a significant number of DWF’s
paralegals together under a new centralised
management structure. By identifying areas
of process where they can get involved,
we can scale up; increasing efficiency and
saving time. This new Centre has also raised

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Andrew Chamberlain

Instead of reacting to market changes,
we should embrace them. This is an
opportunity to bring a fresh approach
to legal services in a market where it is
difficult to differentiate.

If we fast-forward a couple of years, I’d like
to see a clear DWF way of doing things.
This will be an integrated model with its
constituent parts of delivery; where lawyers
fit, with standardised process where
necessary, with automated documents on
demand, a set process, and the opportunity
to plug in paralegals as needed. This looks
different from a traditional law firm and I think
that we are getting there. We need to be
vigilant and constantly look out for changing
client demands and needs, giving us the
opportunity to build a new DWF way on how
we deliver services.

the profile of the paralegal team within DWF.
By putting a team and career development
structure around our paralegals, we hope to
see our staff turnover improve, whilst also
bringing new and different development
opportunities for our team.

Meeting client demand

Managing the secondment demands of
clients is an increasingly difficult problem for
both clients and law firms. In May 2015 we
launched dwf resource. This service allows
us to respond to our clients’ resourcing
needs with agility, whether using our own
people, lawyers from our accredited flexible
contractor base, or through our arrangement
with a leading agency with a specialism in
providing contract lawyers.

Technology takes off

dwf draft is our new document automation
tool for all key documents. We are rolling
this out across the whole business. We are
proud that we are leading the way - few law
firms have the same level of automation,
largely because their old technology platform
is incompatible with the new software. By
the end of 2015, we aim to have automated
all our core documents in the Commercial

Services Division – over 100s of different
templates. Client take-up of dwf draft
has been swift and surprised us all; they
appreciate the quality assurance and the
client service benefits that it brings. It also
builds more efficiency into the process and
we are tracking how much time this will save
our people.

The bespoke service

All of this work is to help our lawyers to focus
their time on what they do best – giving
high quality, commercial legal advice to our
clients. Changing our delivery model and
developing new tools does not mean that we
are focusing on process and volume; rather
it means that we are equipping ourselves
to serve our clients’ needs in a flexible and
consistent way.

An integrated model

In 2015-16 we are moving into targeted
process work and examining areas where
there may be profitability and quality
challenges. I also want to focus on improving
our own DWF fee earner experience to see
how we can build a better way of working for
our lawyers.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Connect and
communicate

Catherine Williams
Chief People Officer

Catherine Williams, Chief People Officer at DWF, explains how
the firm engages its people so they embed DWF’s values
and bring them to life.

Having established a track record of
delivering growth, change and innovation
at pace in a difficult economic climate, the
last 12 months have been important for
DWF. We recognise that in order to maintain
our positive momentum and deliver on our
promises to our people and our clients
we have needed to stop and take stock.
We have taken the opportunity to evaluate
the impact of people initiatives, complete
restructures and seek feedback. Our goal
has been to understand where we can focus
our activity engage our people and target
investment to align how we operate with our
values and our ambitions.

Listening to our people

We are a business which grows and
develops through relationships based on
trust. We recognise that a key to building
trust is engagement, so we have been
working hard in the last year to establish a
deeper connection with our people.

Using a range of media, both online and
face-to-face, we have encouraged people
to give their input and share feedback
helping us to identify areas for improvement
collaboration and innovation, including:

• Town Halls and forums to clearly

communicate our vision and strategy

• Focus groups to better understand the

things that impact the employment journey
of our people

• Blogs and conversations on our internal
online platforms to encourage two way
feedback and share updates and issues.

People Champions

We have piloted the introduction of ‘People
Champions’ to expand ownership of our
people agenda and strategy to all levels in the
business. Through 2015, we aim to grow this
network to provide an important additional
sounding board for new people initiatives,
and to energise and drive high levels of
performance, ownership and engagement.

Harnessing potential

We recognise that as a legal business aiming
to do things differently for our clients, we also
need to go further and provide something
different to attract, develop and retain the
best blend of people.

We introduced the DWF Expectations
Framework in response to feedback from
our people to provide them with clear
performance and development goals at each
stage of their career. It is work in progress
and we remain committed to continuing
to evolve and simplify the Framework,
maximising its accessibility and relevance.

We will also continue to use the Framework
to promote the importance of a broad
definition of contribution that goes beyond
financial achievement to include teamwork,
management and leadership, client
development and technical expertise. We
believe that recognition of these broader
contributions are essential to embedding a
high performance culture.

A learning point from 2014-15 has
highlighted the need to focus on capturing,
showcasing and celebrating our people
successes across the full range of their
contributions.

Always aim higher

Work on the DWF Academy, launched last
year, continues. Evaluation of activity and
feedback from our partners and our people is
informing where we target investment, retain
key programmes and reshape others to
better meet the needs of our people and the
business for the future.

A key point arising from this evaluation has
been recognition that the best outcomes
have been delivered where we have
had high levels of engagement from the
business in designing content and delivering
programmes – this is something that we will
continue to integrate into our approach for
the coming year.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Catherine Williams

Our ability to learn and adapt quickly
continues to be a major differentiator, so
we will ensure that we develop leaders
who can inspire and lead change in our
business.

Looking at things differently

Over the past year we have looked at how
we can exceed client expectations. We
have continued to reshape our workforce,
aligning our structures and capabilities with
work types to meet our strategic plans. This
exercise has required us to challenge our
established working practices and patterns.
We have taken the opportunity to consider
the skill levels needed to deliver our products
and our services. We have also focused
on understanding how we can leverage
our national network to create value for our
people and for our clients.

As part of our emerging talent strategy in
2014 we recruited a cohort of apprentices
into our business. We will increase the
number of new apprentices in 2015-16 in
line with our aspirations to widen access to
the legal profession. We are excited at the
opportunity to connect our 5 STAR Futures
programme to our evolving apprentice
programme to extend our talent pipeline into
the schools we have been working with for
the last five years in each of our locations.

Doing things differently for our people

We continue to promote and enable a wider
range of workstyles - flexible working, home
working, agile working and mobile working
which enable our people to meet work
commitments and support their wider life
choices. Our growth and merger activity has
provided us with the opportunity to better
utilise property, enhance flexibility by ensuring
workspaces were better configured to suit
different groups of people and the changing
needs of clients and the business.

Be better together

We continue to focus on the social
issues most relevant to our business and
communities, and drive activity where it
is needed most. As a result, we support
strategic engagement to address the

challenges that negatively impact education,
employability, health and wellbeing, and
homelessness. Sustainability is key to ensure
we can deliver a CSR strategy that achieves
positive outcomes. One of our values is to
‘disrupt to progress’ and on that basis, we
have moved away from transactional to
transformational activity. An example of this is
our 5 STAR Futures programme.

5 STAR Futures was created in 2012 to help
young people from low income backgrounds
increase their confidence, resilience and
develop key employability skills. This
way, DWF can help reduce educational
disadvantage and reduce the number of
young people from low-income backgrounds
who become NEET (Not in Education,
Employment or Training). It successfully
bridges the gap between what students learn
in school and the behaviours and skills that
are needed for the world of work.

To date, we have reached over 700 students
and involved over 300 DWF employees
in 5 STAR. Our big opportunity is now to
collaborate with our clients using the program
to tackle the negative impact of the UK’s
3.6m children living in poverty.

Future focus

We live in a rapidly changing world fuelled by
technology and demographic change. The
most effective way we can ensure we stay
relevant to our stakeholders is to recognise
that change is constant and persistent. Being
the best is not enough if we are not willing to
change and support our people and clients
through change.

Our ability to learn and adapt quickly
continues to be a major differentiator, so we
will ensure that we develop leaders who can
inspire and lead change in our business. We
know that high performance is something
that can be cultivated and so we will refine
our learning and development offering
to better support our people through the

change curve, providing a strong foundation
for dealing with the pressures of operating in
a fiercely competitive market.

Towards the end of 2015, we will ask our
people through an engagement survey
(confidentially and anonymously) to give us
detailed feedback to give focus to our
future action plans and investment in the
coming years.

DWF has been incredibly successful in a
relatively short space of time, and we are
proud of our achievements. While we have
not been immune to the well documented
tensions and adjustments of scale and
change in a dynamic market context, we
have continued to make improvements in
particular in how we join up our initiatives to
deliver the best value.

2014-15 has been an important year. It has
been a year where we have also recognised
that we cannot allow ourselves to become
complacent and we must work together
to preserve the foundations on which our
business success has been achieved.
Strong leadership and agile decision making,
remain important at all levels of the business.
Our ability to build well connected long term
relationships with clients and our people
is essential.

We understand that we have a responsibility
to maintain a positive work environment
and retain our openness to new ideas,
improvement and innovation. We recognise
that we must continue to deliver on our
commitment to creating opportunities for our
people to progress their careers, to enable
them to make a difference in a profitable,
sustainable, values-led business.

There is work to do. We are confident that
our period of consolidation will result in better
connected people and a stronger business,
where together we can also continue to
make DWF an exciting place to work.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Sustainability
matters

Ty Jones
Director of Corporate Social Responsibility
and Engagement

Ty Jones, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and
Engagement at DWF, has embedded the firm’s CSR strategy,
which is designed to engage clients as well as employees.

The way we do things

• Identify social issues most relevant to our

Be better together

Building and maintaining strong community
partnerships is key to driving our business
forward in a responsible and sustainable
way. Our shared values reflect a common
belief across DWF about how we deliver
our business goals and help to define and
reinforce our culture.

As part of our inclusive approach to improving
workforce representation and the employment
experience for all, a regular workforce survey
will be conducted as a significant resource for
evaluating interventions currently underway or
being put into place. It will highlight potential
differences in workforce representation and
experiences and will encourage activity to
close any such gaps through a programme of
continuous improvement.

Keep all promises

It’s vital that DWF works with community
partners to identify key social issues, so we
know we are channelling our efforts in the
right areas. Our approach to adding social
value is to:

business and our communities

• Work in partnership with our communities

• Plan and manage our investment in

the community

• Inspire and engage our employers,

customers and suppliers

• Measure and evaluate the difference
that our investment has made in
the community

Our 5th annual Community Engagement
Survey checks our focus is in alignment with
our own people. The 2015 survey confirmed
the extent to which these themes resonate
throughout the business:

• 74% wanted to raise aspirations and
academic performance in schools

• 61% wanted to focus on transferable skills

to make people work ready

• 58% wanted to focus on health and

wellbeing

• 51% wanted to support homelessness
and those at risk of becoming homeless

As a responsible business, DWF aims to
deliver a distinct and measured approach to
our corporate social responsibility which puts
delivery, not just commitment, at the heart of
everything we do.

We continue to be guided by our values to
inform not only what we do but the way in
which we do things across the firm. This
includes a visible determination to provide our
people with the opportunity to volunteer in the
community, focusing our efforts on the social
issues most relevant within local communities,
driving action where it is need most.

Our people can expect, and should be able
to recognise, a culture where their desire to
actively engage in their local communities
is visibly supported, and so our new
Volunteering Policy gives our people up to
two days paid work time a year to volunteer
in CSR activity. Current levels of engagement
confirm that we are already exceeding our
community KPI of 30% participation across
each DWF location, and we have invested
7,764 hours in support of local communities
last year alone – at a value of £1.45m.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Ty Jones

We are proud to be one of
only 36 businesses to hold the
CommunityMark, the UK’s national
standard for leadership and excellence
in community investment.

As a business, our approach is to create
community partnerships that are sustainable
and of real mutual value. We are also
encouraging our people to build long-
term relationships with their communities,
which continue to focus on the community
issues they identify through our annual
Community Engagement Survey. To enable
this, we maintain a robust internal leadership
infrastructure for CSR and Diversity and
Inclusion. This includes visible leadership
Steering Groups, CSR Groups in each
location and a growing network of over 75
Diversity Champions across the business.

The year ahead

It has always been our intention to make
a genuine, tangible difference to the
communities in which we live and work. We
are proud to be one of only 36 businesses to
hold the CommunityMark, the UK’s national
standard for leadership and excellence in
community investment.

This sought-after standard is only given to
businesses that prioritise the most pressing
issues in their communities and make
a measurable difference - from helping
disadvantaged people into employment,

to supporting social enterprises compete
for business, and to building long-term
partnerships with schools.

The forthcoming launch of DWF’s Charitable
Foundation will be another key milestone in
our community investment strategy and our
continuing ambitions to play a visible part in
building stronger communities.

CSR Performance

• CSR Firm of the Year 2015 – Law

Awards of Scotland

• A Living Wage Employer
• Employer Volunteering Business of the
Year 2014 - BITC Local Impact Awards for
Excellence

• Finalist in Business in the Community’s

Responsible Business Awards -
The School Partnership Award
category 2015

• Closing the Education Gap Award 2015

- Scottish Business in the Community

• Commended in the FT Innovative

Lawyers Report 2014 for our innovative
approach to Diversity

• Achieved Top 10 Employer status for

Working Families in 2015

• First law firm to achieve ClearAssured

status for the removal of barriers to
the employment and retention of
disabled people

• First law firm to adopt Clear Talents in
Recruitment, an online recruitment tool to
identify reasonable adjustments required
for disabled candidates

• First law firm to adopt Clear Talents

at Work, an holistic online assessment to
support reasonable adjustment provision
for existing colleagues

• Silver Standard for gender diversity from

BITC’s Opportunity Now campaign

• Bronze Standard for ethnic diversity from
BITC’s Race for Opportunity campaign
• A top 3 ranking for diversity Policy &
Practice in the Black Solicitor’s Network
Diversity League Table in 2014

• Climbed 97 places to achieve our highest
ever ranking in Stonewall’s Workplace
Equality Index 2015

• Most Innovative Use of Office

Environment Award 2015 at The Lawyer
Business Leadership Awards supporting a
culture of flexible and agile working

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Our Values

The values we share and uphold help to define and reinforce our
culture and enable us to recruit, retain and develop the highest
quality people, who are experts in their fields.

Our values are at the heart of everything
we do and they give us a common
framework, which is helping to build our
reputation as one of the UK’s most highly
regarded legal businesses.

• Always aim higher

We strive to beat expectations, deliver

service excellence, and immerse ourselves
in our field. At the same time we want
to ensure we are role models for best
practice, driving development in ourselves
and others.

• Be better together

Connecting across the business enables
us to promote knowledge sharing. We
recognise and respect each other, while
encouraging and empowering our teams.
Being visible and accessible is key to
working together.

• Disrupt to progress

Diversity and inclusion

We encourage our people to champion new
ideas, to embrace and promote change,
as well as constantly seek opportunities
for improvement and growth. We want our
people to have an opinion and get involved
in driving the business forward, taking time
to pause and think differently.

• Keep all promises

We listen carefully and promise

accordingly; we are transparent and
genuine and take ownership. We have a
can do attitude and make sure we deliver
on our promises.

• Attend to details
We communicate effectively and deliver
on objectives by understanding our
commercial and financial impact. We give
and encourage constructive feedback, and
most of all we say ‘thank you’.

We believe that an active policy on diversity
and inclusion is an essential part of our
culture – valuing and respecting individual
differences is critical to the pursuit of
business excellence. We look to find, recruit,
develop and retain the best talent.

Corporate responsibility

Creating a culture of corporate responsibility
(CR) is fundamental to the success of our
business strategy. Building and maintaining
CR excellence into our day-to-day activities
is key to driving our business forward in a
responsible and sustainable way.

We recognise that the capacity to change
is important to our continuing development
and growth. During periods of change, the
support of all our stakeholders, particularly our
people and our clients, is absolutely crucial.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Better together

Our shared values reflect a common
belief across DWF about how we deliver
our business goals and help to define
and reinforce our culture.
Ty Jones
Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Engagement

We go further for
our People

We go further for
our Clients

We go further for
our Community

We go further for
our Environment

74%

of the firm’s employees
undertook learning and
development activities.
Visible leadership,
good management
and development help
every employee enjoy
a rewarding and
fulfilling career.

8.6

out of 10 average client
satisfaction score.
We combine commercial
insight with a “can do”
approach to deliver
outstanding service, time
after time.

7,764

total hours spent on pro
bono and community
work by fee earners.
We donate time, expertise
and money to make a
positive impact and build
stronger sustainable
relationships within the
communities in which
we work.

2.6

tonnes of carbon
emissions per person
per year.
We tread lightly where
we can, ensuring prudent
management of energy,
paper, waste, water and
business travel in pursuit
of our goals.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Aiming for
excellence

Deborah Abraham
Director of Risk Management & Excellence

Deborah Abraham is Director of Risk Management & Excellence
at DWF. The pursuit of Excellence is firmly at the top of her
agenda and now provides a solid framework for the firm’s
development.

Doing things differently

In a law firm you might traditionally find a
Head of Quality, but we like to do things
differently and last year DWF decided to
commit to an Excellence Framework, which
is a non-prescriptive business excellence
framework for organisational management
systems, promoted by EFQM (formerly
known as the European Foundation for
Quality Management). It is designed to help
organisations in their drive towards being
more competitive.

Why Excellence?

Our clients are at the very heart of everything
we do. We have always strived to offer the
very best service. Excellence is our goal.
As the first law firm in the UK to achieve the
formal “Commitment to Excellence” Marque,
it speaks volumes about our approach. Why
do we bother? The answer is simple, for the
benefit of our clients. Excellent organisations
achieve and sustain outstanding levels
of performance that meet or exceed the
expectations of all their stakeholders. Being
able to benchmark performance against
excellent organisations from all sectors

means that we are able to align ourselves
with our clients far more clearly, enabling
greater understanding of the challenges
that we all face. The EFQM Excellence
Framework allows us to understand the
cause and effect relationships between what
we do and the results we achieve.

The focus that the Customer Results criteria
provides allows us to scrutinise the ways
we and our clients measure our performance
and encourages us to permanently stretch
ourselves and strive for continuous
improvement. This, in turn, guides us back to
relooking at our processes and the products
and services we provide that enhance the
client experience and add value for our clients.

We’ve been working on our Excellence
journey for just over 12 months and have
now carried out a self-assessment with
independent verification. This exercise
focused on our Excellence strategy, and
we were required to demonstrate where
Excellence touches and frames everything
that DWF does, in our people, client
approach, internal systems and service
delivery, for example.

Attend to details

From our self-assessment process, four key
areas have emerged and have dictated our
strategy over the past 12 months in terms
of Excellence and Governance. Project
Governance is a key area of focus; to ensure
our many projects and innovations have a
focus and ideas are channelled in the right
way. We have created a Service Delivery
Executive (which sits alongside our Client
Development Executive and our Engaging
People Executive), which will create and
manage the whole framework around
projects and ensure we allocate time and
resources with an appropriate focus and
cost-benefit approach.

Another focus is to ensure we listen to our
people and take on board their feedback.
We have committed to an annual DWF
people survey. We are very keen to create
a feedback culture but we are also mindful
of the fact that if somebody takes the
time to talk to us, we need to listen and
act appropriately.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Deborah Abraham

Starting at the top and cascading
throughout our leadership teams, we
are developing our people to work in the
most cohesive way.

There’s no doubt that internally we have
‘grown up’ over the past year. I describe
DWF’s situation as a ‘perfect storm’: we
have the right people in place and the right
strategy, and we now need to continue to
ensure we have the right framework behind it.

Leadership Development is another area
for the strategy. Starting at the top and
cascading throughout our leadership teams,
we are developing our people to work in the
most cohesive way. Culture reinforcement
and accountability are key strengths for
our leaders.

Use of a balanced set of measures and a
robust data strategy is the final area to be
identified. Investment has been made in the
recruitment of a Business Intelligence team
and the development of MI dashboards
across the business. Data is one of our
biggest assets and we need to ensure we
use it to the best of its ability.

Monitoring our progress

If we are going to commit to Excellence we
also need to benchmark ourselves and our
progress. We have pulled together a number
of measures for this, including Net Promoter
Scores (NPS), which is typical of a consumer-
facing industry such as retailers, but unusual
for law firms. We have NPS targets in place
for each of our practice groups and have
always met them, if not better.

We will continue each year to carry out
self-assessments against the Excellence
framework and when we feel we have
achieved a certain level, we will apply to be
Recognised for Excellence, moving away
from the Commitment Marque. Recognition
across an international Excellence Network of
companies is the objective.

New Governance levels

Excellence also feeds through into
governance, and over the past 12 months
governance at DWF has evolved in line with
our new strategy for success. While parts of
our structure are typical of a law firm, such
as our Strategic Board and elected partners,
the development of our new management
structure detailed above fits right in with our
focus on innovation, service delivery to clients
and engaging with our people.

The new Executive teams will report into the
Executive Board, chaired by our Managing
Partner which in turn reports into the
Strategic Board.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

What clients say

You have been incredibly
attentive and proactive, more so
than any other legal advisor. You
have shown a great willingness
to invest time and resource in
getting to know our business
and a hunger for working with
us. This has enabled you to be
proactive and innovative resulting
in improved cost effective
processes for our business.”

Greg Nicoll, Acting General Counsel,
UK & Europe Divisions, Serco

I have used a broad range of services from
DWF within the past 12 months. They have
worked on a number of business critical
issues together with supporting me through
crisis management. They have provided
real value for money along with commercial
pragmatic advice, and I find myself in a
position where my internal teams now ask if
they can instruct DWF directly! I really enjoy
working with them and I would thoroughly
recommend using them.”

Gareth Brewerton, Group General Counsel,
South Staffordshire Plc

DWF has developed a deep understanding
of how our Group operates. On appointment
they put together a team who focused on
getting to know our business and who quickly
aligned with our approach. There is a natural
synergy between their team and ours.”

Pinder Sandhu, Director of Legal &
Compliance, Western Europe,
adidas

DWF are quick to respond to our
business needs, both with regard
to legal advice and in-house
support. Their collaborative and
commercial approach has only
served to further strengthen our
relationship and enhance their
credentials as one of our trusted
legal advisors.”

Kent Dreadon, Head of Legal,
Telefónica UK Limited

DWF have been on our panel for
a number of years, and we have
enjoyed working closely with
them to support our clients.”

Michael Hartig, Managing Director
- Co Head of Northern Region,
Barclays Corporate Banking

We are grateful to DWF for their excellent
legal advice and for their efficiency in the
management of over £300m of acquisitions,
some of which were complex and the
ongoing legal management of our portfolio.
Abby Dry and the DWF team have an
impressive understanding of our business.
We like the fact that DWF are ambitious
and innovative and we have found Andrew
Leaitherland to be an impressive CEO. We
have complete confidence in the DWF team.”

Allan Lockhart, Property Director,
NewRiver Retail Limited

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

What clients say

A key indicator of a well managed
workplace is how employees feel about
it. The evidence given is backed up by an
impressive range of awards which clearly
tell a story of excellent management on all
fronts. There are many examples given of
an exceptionally well managed workplace
which feeds into solid performance and
growth of the firm.

MPF Awards 2015 - Best Managed Workplace
Managing Partners’ Forum 2015

We started working with DWF
about six months ago. I’ve been
very impressed with the way
they have rolled up their sleeves
and invested time in getting to
know our business and how we
work. Our business isn’t easy
to understand but DWF have
shown commitment and tenacity
in ensuring a good grasp of our
industry as well as Expedia, from
junior associate upwards.”

Rachel Xuereb, Corporate Counsel,
Expedia, Inc

I have worked with the DWF Counter-Fraud
team for many years and the one thing
I can depend on is the certainty of them
delivering on my expectations when it comes
to our robust philosophy. I consider DWF
to be market leaders in this area and know
that I can depend on them to conduct a
robust defence, which always meets our
expectations in this specialist area.”

Steve Jackson, Head of Financial Crime,
Covéa Insurance plc

The DWF team is easy to work with,
proactive and focused on delivery. They have
a proven track record of helping Whitbread
to achieve significant growth in its hotel and
restaurant brands, and have helped us to
deliver some particularly complex and high
profile projects. Importantly for me, they
retain that human touch and seem genuinely
interested in building long-term relationships.”

Mark Anderson, Managing Director, Property,
Commercial & Premier Inn Germany,
Whitbread Hotels & Restaurants

DHL and DWF are in the early
stages of their commercial
relationship and I have been
delighted with the way they have
been able to support us and their
ability to gain an insight into our
organisation. They have been
able to talk to us in our own
language and gain very quickly
an excellent understanding of
our commercial objectives and
business challenges.”

Alex Bridgeman, VP Risk & Insurance for UKI,
EE & EMA, DHL

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Strategic Board

Alan Benzie
Chairman

Paul Berry
CEO – Insurance Services

Jonathan Edwards
Partner – Banking

David Gray
Non-Executive Director

Andrew Leaitherland
Managing Partner & CEO

Antony Marsh
Partner – Insurance Services

Stephen Miles
CEO – Commercial Services

Alasdair Peacock
Partner – Corporate and Banking

Ian Slater
Partner – Insurance Services

Carol Thompson
CEO of Central Services (Interim)

Catherine Williams
Chief People Officer

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Our Strategic Board works to
ensure we achieve our strategic aims.
Its responsibility is to keep check on
operational developments and ideas.
Alan Benzie, Chairman

Alan Benzie
Chairman

Alan has been DWF’s Chairman since 2007;
he helps drive and shape the firm’s strategic
development. Before his retirement from
KPMG in December 2003, Alan chaired its
Northern offices and sat on their UK board.

Paul Berry
CEO – Insurance Services

Before moving to a full-time management
role, Paul specialised in large and
catastrophic personal injury work for insurers.
He now manages a practice group which
acts for a variety of insurers, adjusters,
brokers and corporate clients on a wide
range of insurance issues.

Jonathan Edwards
Partner – Banking

Jonathan specialises in banking law and is
the head of the firm’s Corporate Banking
team. He is highly regarded and rated by
Chambers as one of the top five banking
lawyers in the North West.

David Gray
Non-Executive Director

David is a non-executive member of the DWF
board. After graduating from Cambridge,
David joined the Leeds office of Eversheds
where he specialised in mergers and
acquisitions, and Stock Exchange work
for 20 years. David moved to London as
Eversheds’ CEO in 2003, a position he held
for six years. From 2009 until 2013, David
was Chairman of Eversheds International.

Andrew Leaitherland
Managing Partner & CEO

As Managing Partner & CEO, Andrew is
responsible for the firm’s overall strategic
direction. Since 2006 Andrew has overseen
major growth in revenue and people: from
£29m to £191m and from 560 to over
2,300 respectively.

Antony Marsh
Partner – Insurance Services

Antony became a Partner in 1995 and Senior
Partner of Fishburns in 2004. Following
Fishburns’ merger with DWF, Antony was
appointed to the DWF Board. He handles a
wide range of commercial disputes, with a
large part of his client base being made up of
professional indemnity insurers.

Stephen Miles
CEO – Commercial Services

Stephen is responsible for driving forward
the Commercial Services strategy, and
for looking at alternative ways to deliver
growth and increased profitability. Stephen
has exceptional legal and management
credentials having led the Pinsent Masons
Banking & Restructuring, Financial
Regulation, Employment and Pensions
practices in recent years.

Alasdair Peacock
Partner – Corporate and Banking

Alasdair joined DWF as Partner in 2012,
following the merger with Biggart Baillie. He
worked for a major listed plc for five years as
Legal Director and Company Secretary, and
became Managing Partner of Biggart Baillie

in 2009. Alasdair has extensive experience
in corporate and commercial law, acting for
clients in both the public and private sector.

Ian Slater
Partner – Insurance Services

Ian joined DWF in 1992. His caseload
encompasses catastrophic and serious
injury work. An experienced litigator focusing
on complex medical issues and technological
innovation, Ian’s particular specialism lies in
the proactive management of personal
injury cases.

Carol Thompson
CEO of Central Services (Interim)

Carol has a track record of delivering step
change EV growth in complex and fast
growing businesses. Carol has a solid
background of multi sector and multi
discipline experience. Her areas of expertise
include fundraising, target identification,
acquisition and disposal and growth /
consolidation strategies.

Catherine Williams
Chief People Officer

Catherine joined DWF in 2006 and is
responsible for people strategy, HR,
business partnering, organisation learning
and development, and corporate social
responsibility. Catherine has over 23 years’
experience in developing people strategy and
delivering change and improvement within
professional services businesses.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Financial Review

Members’ Report

Members’ Responsibilities Statement 36

Independent Auditor’s Report

Group Profit and Loss Account

Group and LLP Balance Sheets

Group Cash Flow Statement

Notes to the Financial Statements

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Members’ Report
Year ended
30 April 2015

The firm posted a 1% year-on-year growth in revenue delivering
£191m, up on last year’s audited result; £189m. This year has
been one of substantial strategic and tactical investment in talent,
technology and infrastructure including; 22 lateral partner hires,
consolidation of the firm’s London teams into one office; the
landmark Walkie Talkie building; and international expansion into
Dubai. All these activities set the business up for success.

DWF has seen its strongest revenue growth
in Corporate and Banking (up 3% to £32m)
and Real Estate (up 8% to £32m), in line
with the firm’s strategic growth plans, and a
reflection of its purposeful investment in lateral
partner and team hires over recent years.

Fundamental changes in the insurance
market have led the firm to make strategic
and wise economic withdrawals from certain
books of insurance business. Despite this,the
firm still achieved marginal increases in
revenues in this area.

The firm now employs approximately
2,160 FTEs across 13 locations, compared
to 2,350 FTEs last year; this is a careful
balance of natural attrition and modest
restructurings; in turn these help reshape
the business alongside client needs. The
firm’s strengthened sector and service line
capability has attracted major new clients
and work from Jack Wills, New River Retail,
Serco Group and The Homes & Communities
Agency, amongst others.

Funding

The firm continues to be strongly funded by
fixed capital and retained current accounts of
our Members. Due to our improved visibility
and strong recurring cash flow, growing in
both commercial and insurance businesses,
the firm was able to put in place a Revolving
Credit Facility committed to July 2018 and
two overdrafts, which are due for renewal
annually. We continue to place significant
emphasis on optimising the firm’s working
capital funding the daily requirements of the
firm, which is working well. However, it is
worth noting that, the net current assets of
the firm have been temporarily distorted by
the maturing of its facilities in July 2015 and
the replacement Revolving Credit Facility
which is committed until July 2018.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Financial outlook

Charitable donations

Our net profit financial performance last year
is a reflection on the decision taken to invest
in the alignment of our operating model
with our strategy, as set out in our strategic
vision. Our focus has been on the integration
of our people as well as consolidation
following our mergers and acquisitions. Our
resource base is now set at an appropriate
level to allow us to deliver our targeted
revenue growth in 2015-16.

We know it takes more than one year to
see these investments pay back and we
are already seeing these returns this year.
So our plans for growth and investments
are not denuded despite operating within
markets such as Insurance where our clients
are experiencing profit challenges, and
where we can we have responded with cost
saving changes. We’re confident that these
substantial investments in our infrastructure,
in our people, and our technology platforms
will put us in a stronger position for the
future given we are ahead of the competition
in delivery service, in new innovative and
least costs ways. These earlier than others
investments will prove to be timely and sound
in a legal services market seeing a once in
a lifetime ground shift. DWF is ahead of the
game.

Principal activity

The principal activity of DWF LLP is the
provision of legal services in the United
Kingdom and Ireland.

During the year, the firm made charitable
donations totalling £10,000 to a variety of
local charities (2014: £10,000).

Designated Members

The following Members served as Designated
Members throughout the year and at the date
of this report:

A R Leaitherland
P A Berry
I J Slater
A G Peacock
J D L Edwards

The Board

The Board comprises the Designated
Members together with a Non Executive
Chairman, Alan Benzie, a further Non
Executive Director, David Gray (from 1 May
2013), The CEO of Central Services (Interim)
Carol Thompson and the Chief People
Officer, Catherine Williams, Antony Marsh,
and CEO of Commercial Services,
Stephen Miles.

The Board is responsible for directing the
strategy, policies, and management of
the firm.

Members’ drawings and capital policy

The Members’ policy on drawings is
determined by the Board. A conservative
level of monthly drawings is established at
the start of the financial year which enables
each Member to draw a proportion of their

post-tax profit during the accounting year
with further distributions being made once
the financial results for the year and allocation
of profit have been finalised; the timing of
which is dependent upon the working capital
requirements of the firm.

With the consent of Members, the LLP
retains a provision for tax from their profit
shares which is paid to HM Revenue
& Customs on their behalf. The capital
requirements of the LLP are kept under
review by the Board with any proposed
changes being approved by the Members.
The level of Equity Members’ capital
contribution is linked to his or her share of
profit. The capital contribution of the Fixed
Share Members is fixed at a standard rate,
in line with the new HM Revenue & Customs
legislation guidelines.

Auditor

Deloitte LLP has expressed their willingness
to continue in office as auditor of the
LLP, and accordingly Deloitte LLP will be
proposed for reappointment as auditor.

Approved by the Board of Members on
29 October 2015 and signed on behalf of
the Board.

A R Leaitherland

I J Slater

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Financial Review

Members’ Responsibility
Statement

The Members are responsible for preparing the Annual Report
and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law
and regulations.

The Limited Liability Partnerships (Accounts
& Audit) (Application of Companies Act 2006)
Regulations 2008 require the Members
to prepare financial statements for each
financial year. Under that law the Members
have elected to prepare the financial
statements in accordance with United
Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting
Practice (United Kingdom Accounting
Standards and applicable law). The financial
statements are required by law to give a
true and fair view of the state of affairs of the
Group and the firm and of the profit or loss
of the Group for that period. In preparing
these financial statements, the Members are
required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and

then apply them consistently;

The Members are responsible for keeping
adequate accounting records that disclose
with reasonable accuracy at any time the
financial position of the firm and enable
them to ensure that the financial statements
comply with the Companies Act 2006, as
applicable to limited liability partnerships.
They are also responsible for safeguarding
the assets of the firm and hence for taking
reasonable steps for the prevention and
detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The Members are responsible for the
maintenance and integrity of the corporate
and financial information included on the
firm’s website. Legislation in the United
Kingdom governing the preparation and
dissemination of financial statements may
differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

• make judgments and estimates that are

reasonable and prudent;

These responsibilities are exercised by the
Board on behalf of the members.

• state whether applicable UK Accounting
Standards have been followed, subject
to any material departures disclosed and
explained in the financial statements; and

• prepare the financial statements on
the going concern basis unless it is
inappropriate to presume that the firm will
continue in business.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Independent Auditor’s Report
to the Members of DWF LLP

We have audited the financial statements of DWF LLP for the year
ended 30 April 2015 which comprise the Group Profit and Loss
Account, the Group Statement of Recognised Gains and Losses,
the Group and Parent LLP Balance Sheets, the Group Cash Flow
Statement and the related notes 1 to 22.

The financial reporting framework that has
been applied in their preparation is applicable
law and United Kingdom Accounting
Standards (United Kingdom Generally
Accepted Accounting Practice).

This report is made solely to the limited
liability partnership’s members, as a body,
in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16
of the Companies Act 2006 as applied to
limited liability partnerships by the Limited
Liability Partnerships (Accounts and Audit)
(Application of Companies Act 2006)
Regulations 2008. Our audit work has
been undertaken so that we might state to
the limited liability partnership’s members
those matters we are required to state to
them in an auditor’s report and for no other
purpose. To the fullest extent permitted
by law, we do not accept or assume
responsibility to anyone other than the limited
liability partnership and the limited liability
partnership’s members as a body, for our
audit work, for this report, or for the opinions
we have formed.

(A) Respective responsibilities of
members and auditor

As explained more fully in the Members’
Responsibilities Statement, the Members are
responsible for the preparation of the financial
statements and for being satisfied that they
give a true and fair view. Our responsibility
is to audit and express an opinion on the
financial statements in accordance with
applicable law and International Standards
on Auditing (UK and Ireland). Those
standards require us to comply with the
Auditing Practices Board’s Ethical Standards
for Auditors.

Scope of the audit of the financial
statements

An audit involves obtaining evidence about
the amounts and disclosures in the financial
statements sufficient to give reasonable
assurance that the financial statements are
free from material misstatement, whether
caused by fraud or error. This includes an
assessment of: whether the accounting
policies are appropriate to the group’s and
the parent limited liability partnership’s
circumstances and have been consistently
applied and adequately disclosed; the
reasonableness of significant accounting
estimates made by the designated members;
and the overall presentation of the financial
statements. In addition, we read all the
financial and non-financial information
in the annual report to identify material
inconsistencies with the audited financial
statements and to identify any information
that is apparently materially incorrect based
on, or materially inconsistent with, the
knowledge acquired by us in the course of
performing the audit. If we become aware
of any apparent material misstatements or
inconsistencies we consider the implications
for our report.

• have been prepared in accordance with
the requirements of the Companies
Act 2006 as applied to limited liability
partnerships.

Matters on which we are required to
report by exception.

We have nothing to report in respect of the
following matters where the Companies
Act 2006 as applied to limited liability
partnerships requires us to report to you if, in
our opinion:

• adequate accounting records have not
been kept by the parent limited liability
partnership, or returns adequate for
our audit have not been received from
branches not visited by us; or

• the parent limited liability partnership

financial statements are not in agreement
with the accounting records and returns; or

• we have not received all the information

and explanations we require for our audit.

(B) Opinion on financial statements

Heather J Crosby

In our opinion the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the
group’s and of the parent limited liability
partnership’s affairs as at 30 April 2015
and of the group’s profit for the year then
ended;

• have been properly prepared in

accordance with United Kingdom Generally
Accepted Accounting Practice; and

BSc ACA (Senior Statutory Auditor)
for and on behalf of Deloitte LLP

Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor

Manchester, United Kingdom on
29 October 2015

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Group Profit and Loss Account
Year ended 30 April 2015

Turnover

Staff costs

Depreciation

Amortisation of goodwill and development costs

Other operating expenses

Other operating income

Operating profit

Net interest payable

Profits for the financial year before taxation available for division among
Members

Profits for the financial year available for division among Members

Taxation

Note

2015
£’000

2014
£’000

191,133

189,003

(84,933)

(85,944)

(5,233)

(3,981)

(237)

(139)

(53,211)

(47,627)

227

47,746

(1,012)

46,734

(927)

45,807

218

51,530

(1,151)

50,379

(1,080)

49,299

All results relate to continuing activities.

There were no recognised gains and losses other than those shown above and consequently no separate group statement of total recognised

gains and losses has been presented.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Group and LLP Balance Sheets
As at 30 April 2015

Fixed assets

Intangible fixed assets – goodwill

Intangible fixed assets – development costs

Tangible assets

Investments

Current assets

Note

Group
2015
£‘000

382

450

Group
2014
£‘000

521

433

LLP
2015
£‘000

LLP
2014
£‘000

19,753

14,141

19,734

14,122

20,585

15,095

19,734

14,122

Debtors

Cash at bank and in hand

99,443

2,905

98,267

3,565

98,738

2,731

98,360

3,182

102,348

101,832

101,469

101,542

Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

(74,000)

(50,695)

(76,750)

(50,959)

Net current assets

28,348

51,137

24,719

50,583

Total assets less current liabilities

Creditors: amounts falling due after more than
one year

48,933

(6,093)

66,232

(20,540)

44,453

(6,093)

64,705

(20,540)

Net assets attributable to Members

42,840

45,692

38,360

44,165

Represented by:

Loans and other debts due to Members

Members’ capital classified as a liability under FRS 25

Other amounts

Equity

Members’ other interests - other reserves
classified as equity under FRS 25

25,932

10,608

36,540

6,300

22,472

8,740

31,212

14,480

25,932

9,940

35,872

2,488

22,473

8,771

31,244

12,921

Total members’ interests

42,840

45,692

38,360

44,165

These financial statements of DWF LLP, registered number OC 328794, were approved by the Board on 29 October 2015.

Signed on behalf of the Board of Members.

A R Leaitherland
Designated Member

I J Slater
Designated Member

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Group Cash Flow Statement
Year ended 30 April 2015

Net cash inflow from operating activities

Returns on investments and servicing of finance

Taxation

Capital expenditure and financial investment

Transactions with Members

Net cash outflow before financing

Financing

Decrease in cash and cash equivalents

Note

2015
£’000

54,441

(1,012)

(1,099)

2014
£’000

43,004

(1,151)

(890)

(10,280)

(6,531)

(48,659)

(44,539)

(6,609)

(10,107)

1,919

(4,690)

3,819

(6,288)

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2015

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The principal accounting policies are
summarised below. They have all been
applied consistently throughout the current
year and in the preceding year.

Basis of accounting
The financial statements have been prepared
under the historical cost convention in
accordance with United Kingdom applicable
law and accounting standards and the
Statement of Recommended Practice
‘Accounting by LLPs’.

Basis of preparation
These financial statements have been
prepared on the going concern basis.
The firm meets its funding requirement
through the subscription of capital by its
Members and through a portfolio of bank
facilities. We have a suite of bank facilities that
are committed until July 2018, giving a stable
funding platform from which the firm will
deliver its strategy and growth plans during
that period.
Such facilities include Revolving Credit Facility
committed to July 2018 and two overdrafts,
which are due for renewal annually. The firm
continues to have a strong and supportive
relationship with our portfolio of banks.
Having reviewed the firm’s forecasts and
the risks and uncertainties surrounding the
current demand for legal services, and other
reasonably possible variations in trading
performance, the Members expect to be
able to operate within its banking facilities
and in accordance with the covenants set
out in those facility agreements; accordingly
they continue to adopt the going concern
basis of accounting in preparing these
financial statements.

Consolidation
The group financial statements consolidate
the financial statements of the firm and its
subsidiary undertakings drawn up to 30 April
each year. The results of subsidiaries acquired
or sold are consolidated for the periods from
or to the date on which control passed.
Acquisitions are accounted for under the
acquisition method.

Intangible assets – goodwill
Goodwill arising on the acquisition of
subsidiary undertakings and businesses,
representing any excess of the fair value of
the consideration given over the fair value of
the identifiable assets and liabilities acquired,
is capitalised and written of on a straight line
basis over its useful economic life, which is 5
years. Provision is made for any impairment.

Intangible assets – research and
development
Research expenditure is written off as
incurred. Development expenditure is also
written off, except where the Members are
satisfied as to the technical, commercial and
financial viability of individual projects. In such
cases, the identifiable expenditure is deferred
and amortised over the period during which
the Group is expected to benefit. Provision is
made for any impairment.

Tangible fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost, net of
depreciation and any provision for impairment.
Depreciation is provided at rates calculated
to write off the cost, less estimated residual
value, on each asset over its expected useful
life, as follows:

Leasehold
premises
improvements

Fitting out costs

Furniture and
fittings

Computers

Office equipment

Over the lease term

10% per annum or
remaining life of lease
if lower

15% on a reducing
balance basis

25% on a straight line
basis

20% on a straight line
basis

Investments
Investments are stated at cost less provision
for impairment.

Lease obligations
Rentals under operating leases are charged
on a straight line basis over the lease term,
even if the payments are not made on such
a basis.

Lease incentives
Benefits received and receivable as an
incentive to enter into an operating lease are
spread on a straight line basis over the lease
term, except where the period to the review
date on which the rent is first expected to
be adjusted to the prevailing market rate is
shorter than the full lease term, in which case
the shorter period is used.

Provisions
Provisions are made in respect of leasehold
property that is surplus to the firm’s
requirements and for known dilapidations
costs that are payable at the end of a
property lease.

Pension costs
The firm makes contributions to the personal
pension schemes of its employees. The

pension costs are charged directly to the
profit and loss account in the year in which
they occur.

Revenue recognition and amounts
recoverable from clients
Turnover represents fees billed in the
accounting periods excluding disbursements
and value added tax. Services provided
during the year to clients, which at the
balance sheet date had not yet been billed are
recognised as turnover in accordance with
Financial Reporting Standard No 5 “Reporting
the substance of transactions” Application
Note G “Revenue Recognition”.
Revenue is recognised by reference to
an assessment of the fair value of the
services provided at the balance sheet date
as a proportion of the total value of the
engagement.
Provision is made against unbilled amounts
on those client engagements where the
right to receive consideration is contingent
on factors outside the control of the LLP.
Amounts recoverable from clients are
included within debtors.

Taxation
The LLP’s Members are personally liable
for taxation on their share of the profits of
the LLP, accordingly no liability for personal
taxation is recorded in these financial
statements.
Tax due on corporate subsidiaries is provided
for based on the tax rates and laws enacted,
or substantively enacted, at the balance
sheet date.

Bank borrowings
Interest-bearing bank loans and overdrafts
are recorded at the proceeds received,
net of direct issue costs. Finance charges,
including premiums payable on settlement
or redemption and direct issue costs, are
accounted for on an accruals basis in the
profit or loss account using the effective
interest method and are added to the
carrying amount of the instrument to the
extent that they are not settled in the period
in which they arise.

Capital
The capital requirement of the LLP is
determined from time to time by the
Members, following recommendations
from the Board. Equity Members’ capital
contributions are linked to his or her share
of profit which is assessed annually with any
changes being effective from 1st May. Capital
contributions of the Fixed Share Members are
fixed at a standard rate. Capital is repaid to
Members upon cessation of membership of
the LLP and so is presented in amounts due
to Members.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2015

2. TURNOVER

Turnover is derived from the provision of legal services in the UK and Ireland and is stated net of disbursements and value added tax.
No segmental analysis has been shown since the Board considers that such a disclosure would be prejudicial to the business.

3. STAFF COSTS

Average number of persons employed during the year (excluding Members) was:

Legal advisers

Support staff

Staff costs incurred during the year in respect of employees were:

2015
No.

2014
No.

1,213

864

2,077

£’000

1,224

884

2,108

£’000

Wages and salaries

74,202

75,455

Social security costs

Pension costs

8,420

2,311

8,295

2,194

Total staff costs

84,933

85,944

4. OPERATING PROFIT

Operating profit is stated after charging:

Depreciation of owned tangible fixed assets

Amortisation of goodwill and development costs

Rentals under operating leases

2015
£’000

2014
£’000

5,233

237

3,981

139

- Land and buildings

8,131

6,510

Fees payable to the LLP’s auditor for the audit of the LLP’s annual accounts

Fees payable to the LLP’s auditor for other services to the LLP

- Other leases

- Audit of subsidiary undertakings

- Tax services

- Other services

984

102

Other services include reporting under the Solicitors’ Accounts Rules 1998 (since 6 October 2011- SRA Account Rules), and merger and
acquisitions advice.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2015

5. NET INTEREST PAYABLE

6. TAX ON PROFIT ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIES

The tax charge comprises:

Other interest payable and similar charges

(1,012)

(1,151)

2015
£’000

2014
£’000

UK corporation tax

2015
£’000

927

2014
£’000

1,080

The difference between the current tax shown above and the amount calculated by applying the standard rate of UK corporation tax to the
profit before tax is shown below:

Tax on group profit on ordinary activities at standard UK corporation tax rate of 21% (2014: 23%)

Profit on ordinary activities before tax

2015
£’000

46,734

9,814

2014
£’000

50,379

11,588

Effects of:

Tax borne by the individual Members

(8,887)

(10,508)

Tax charge for the period

927

1,080

7. MEMBERS’ SHARE OF PROFITS

The basis on which profits are shared among the Members is set out in the principal accounting policies.

Average number of Members

2015
No.

259

2014
No.

262

The profit that has been allocated since the year end attributable to the Member with the highest entitlement to profits was £925,416
(2014: £1,141,153).

8. PROFIT ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE LIMITED LIABILITY PARTNERSHIP

As permitted under Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006, as applicable to limited liability partnerships, the individual profit and loss account
for DWF LLP has not been presented. Its profit for the financial year, before Members’ remuneration charged as an expense, was £42,085,000
(2014 - £47,740,000).

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2015

9. INTANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS – GOODWILL

Group

Cost

Positive goodwill
£’000

At 1 May 2014 and at 30 April 2015

Amortisation

At 1 May 2014

Charge for the year

At 30 April 2015

Net book value

At 30 April 2014

At 30 April 2015

695

174

139

313

521

382

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2015

10. INTANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS – DEVELOPMENT COSTS

Group development cost
£’000

Cost

At 1 May 2014

Additions

At 30 April 2015

Amortisation

At 1 May 2014

Charge for the year

At 30 April 2015

Net book value

At 30 April 2014

At 30 April 2015

433

115

548

433

450

* Intangible fixed assets held at Group level only

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2015

TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

Leasehold
improvements
£’000

Fixtures
and fittings
£’000

Office and
computer
equipment
£’000

Group

Cost

At 1 May 2014

Additions

9,876

4,015

At 30 April 2015

13,891

Accumulated depreciation

At 1 May 2014

Charge for the year

At 30 April 2015

Net book value

At 30 April 2014

At 30 April 2015

5,020

1,337

6,357

4,856

7,534

5,071

731

5,802

3,301

328

3,629

1,770

2,173

Leasehold
improvements
£’000

Fixtures
and fittings
£’000

Office and
computer
equipment
£’000

LLP

Cost

At 1 May 2014

Additions

9,876

4,015

At 30 April 2015

13,891

Accumulated depreciation

At 1 May 2014

Charge for the year

At 30 April 2015

Net book value

At 30 April 2014

At 30 April 2015

5,020

1,337

6,357

4,856

7,534

5,027

731

5,758

3,301

328

3,629

1,726

2,129

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Total
£’000

37,738

10,845

48,583

22,791

6,099

28,890

15,276

23,597

3,568

5,233

18,844

28,830

7,515

10,046

14,141

19,753

Total
£’000

37,719

10,845

48,564

22,816

6,099

28,915

15,276

23,597

3,568

5,233

18,844

28,830

7,540

10,071

14,122

19,734

Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2015

12. INVESTMENTS IN SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES

Shares in subsidiary
undertakings £

LLP

Cost

At 1 May 2014 and 30 April 2015

Country of
incorporation

Percentage of
ownership and
voting rights held

Subsidiaries

Direct

Davies Wallis Foyster Ltd

United Kingdom

DWF China Limited (formerly DWF Ltd)

United Kingdom

DWF Services Limited

United Kingdom

Resolution Law Ltd

United Kingdom

100%

Nature of business

Non trading

Dormant

Provision of employment services

Dormant

DWF Pension Trustees Limited

United Kingdom

100% Provision of pension trustee services

Davies Wallis (unlimited)

United Kingdom

DWF Director Scotland Ltd

United Kingdom

DWF Solicitors Ltd

United Kingdom

DWF Secretarial Services (Scotland) Ltd

United Kingdom

Bailford Trustees Ltd

United Kingdom

Bailford EBT Trustees Ltd

United Kingdom

DWF (Nominees) 2013 Ltd

United Kingdom

DWF (Trustee) Ltd

United Kingdom

Indirect

DWF Secretarial Services Ltd

United Kingdom

DWF Nominees Ltd

United Kingdom

15Squared Limited (formerly Claimbase Ltd)

United Kingdom

DWF Middle East Group LLP
(formerly DWF Fishburns (Middle East) LLP)

United Kingdom

100%

Dormant

Non trading

Other Business Support

Dormant

Software provider

Dormant

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2015

13. DEBTORS

Group
2015
£’000

Group
2014
£’000

Trade debtors

61,385

59,191

Amounts recoverable from clients in respect of unbilled work performed

Amounts due from subsidiary entities

Unbilled disbursements

Prepayments and accrued income

21,868

4,191

11,999

99,443

22,991

3,946

12,139

98,267

LLP
2015
£’000

58,952

2,832

21,515

4,112

11,327

98,738

LLP
2014
£’000

58,254

1,438

22,648

3,901

12,119

98,360

All amounts are due within one year.

14. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

Group
2015
£’000

Group
2014
£’000

LLP
2015
£’000

LLP
2014
£’000

Bank loans and overdrafts

32,064

13,028

32,064

13,028

Obligations under finance leases and hire purchase obligations

Amounts due to subsidiary companies

Trade creditors

16,516

20,333

Corporation tax

Other creditors including taxation and social security

Accruals and deferred income

511

12,489

12,377

74,000

683

9,365

7,228

50,695

11,586

16,094

4,888

12,075

76,750

4,353

20,158

5,637

7,725

50,959

The increase in bank loans falling due within one year is due to the maturing current banking facility being refinanced post year end to a
Revolving Credit Facility which is committed to July 2018.

15. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

Net obligations under finance lease and hire purchase agreements

Deferred income

Bank loans

Group
2015
£’000

975

5,118

6,093

Group
2014
£’000

14,000

6,492

20,540

LLP
2015
£’000

975

5,118

6,093

LLP
2014
£’000

14,000

6,492

20,540

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2015

16. BORROWINGS

Net obligations under finance leases and hire purchase agreements

Bank overdraft

Bank loans

Group
2015
£’000

10,775

22,264

Group
2014
£’000

6,745

20,282

106

LLP
2015
£’000

10,775

22,264

LLP
2014
£’000

6,745

20,282

106

Total borrowings

33,082

27,133

33,082

27,133

Due within one year

Bank Overdraft

Bank loans

Net obligations under finance leases and hire purchase agreements

10,775

21,289

6,745

6,282

10,775

21,289

6,745

6,282

Total due within one year

32,107

13,085

32,107

13,085

Due within one and two years

Bank loans

Net obligations under finance leases and hire purchase agreements

Due within two to five years

Bank loans

Net obligations under finance leases and hire purchase agreements

Total due after more than one year

682

293

975

14,000

14,048

682

293

975

14,000

14,048

Included within bank loans are issue costs amounting to £90,000 (2014: £209,000). These costs are being amortised to the termination date of
the facility.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2015

17. TOTAL MEMBERS’ INTERESTS

Members’ other interests

Group

Other reserves
£’000

Loans and other
debts due to
Members £’000

Total Members’
interests
£’000

Profit for the financial year available for discretionary distribution among Members

Members’ interests after profit for the year

As at 1 May 2014

14,480

45,807

60,287

Allocated profits

(53,987)

Drawings

Capital introduced

Capital repaid

At 30 April 2015

6,300

31,212

53,987

45,692

45,807

91,499

(51,418)

6,464

(3,705)

36,540

6,464

(3,705)

42,840

Members’ other interests

LLP

Other reserves
£’000

Loans and other
debts due to
Members £’000

Total Members’
interests
£’000

Profit for the financial year available for discretionary distribution among Members

Members’ interests after profit for the year

As at 1 May 2014

12,921

42,085

55,006

Allocated profits

(52,518)

Drawings

Capital introduced

Capital repaid

At 30 April 2015

2,488

31,244

52,518

44,165

42,085

86,250

(50,649)

6,464

(3,705)

35,872

6,464

(3,705)

38,360

18. OBLIGATIONS UNDER OPERATING LEASES

Annual commitments under non-cancellable operating leases are as follows:

2015

2014

Group and LLP

Leases which expire:

Within one year

In the second to fifth years inclusive

After five years

Land and
buildings
£’000

425

2,833

10,193

13,451

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Land and
buildings
£’000

Other
£’000

1,015

854

2,809

7,040

1,015

10,703

Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2015

19. NET CASH INFLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES

2015
£’000

2014
£’000

Operating profit

47,746

51,530

20. ANALYSIS OF CASH FLOWS

Depreciation

Amortisation of goodwill and development costs

Increase in debtors

Increase/(Decrease) in creditors and liabilities

Net cash inflow from operating activities

5,233

237

(1,176)

2,401

54,441

3,981

139

(6,567)

(6,079)

43,004

Returns on investment and servicing of finance

Interest paid

(1,012)

(1,151)

2015
£’000

2014
£’000

Taxation

Corporation tax paid

(1,099)

(890)

Capital expenditure and financial investment

Payments to acquire intangible and tangible fixed assets

(10,280)

(6,531)

Transactions with Members

Drawings and distributions

(51,418)

(45,535)

Capital contributions by Members

Capital repayments to Members

6,464

(3,705)

6,274

(5,278)

(48,659)

(44,539)

Financing

Repayment of bank loans

(13,298)

(12,979)

Capital element of finance lease rental payments

New bank loans

(63)

15,280

1,919

(154)

16,952

3,819

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2015

21. ANALYSIS AND RECONCILIATION OF NET DEBT

Bank overdrafts

Cash at bank and in hand

Debt due within one year

1 May
2014
£’000

(6,745)

3,565

(3,180)

(6,282)

Debt due greater than one year

(14,000)

Finance leases

(106)

Cash flow
£’000

(4,030)

(660)

(4,690)

(1,007)

(975)

Net debt

(23,568)

(6,609)

Cash outflow from increase in debt and lease financing

Decrease in cash in the year

Change in net debt resulting from cash flows

Increase in net debt in the year

Other
non-cash
changes
£’000

30 April
2015
£’000

(10,775)

2,905

(7,870)

(14,000)

(21,289)

14,000

(975)

(43)

(30,177)

2015
£’000

(4,690)

(1,919)

(6,609)

2014
£’000

(6,288)

(3,819)

(10,107)

Net debt at 1 May

(23,568)

(13,461)

Net debt at 30 April

(30,177)

(23,568)

22. CONTROLLING PARTY AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

In the opinion of the Members there is no controlling party as defined by Financial Reporting Standard 8 “Related Party Disclosures”.

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Notes

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Notes

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

DWF LLP

LLP number
OC328794

Date of registration
June 2007

Solicitors Regulation
Authority number
469044

VAT registration number
166 7216 50

Registered office
1 Scott Place, 2 Hardman Street
Manchester M3 3AA
+44 (0)161 603 5000

Bankers
Barclays
1st Floor
3 Hardman Street
Spinningfields
Manchester
M3 3HF

HSBC
4 Hardman Square
Spinningfields
Manchester
M3 3EB

Lloyds Banking Group Plc
5 St Paul’s Square
Liverpool L3 9SJ

RBS
1 Spinningfields Square
Manchester
M3 3AP

Santander UK
The Plaza
100 Old Hall Street
Liverpool L3 9QJ

Office locations

Birmingham
One Snowhill
Snow Hill Queensway
Birmingham B4 6GA
+44 (0)121 212 2620

Bristol
Redcliff Quay
120 Redcliff Street
Bristol BS1 6HU
+44 (0)117 301 7390

Dubai
DIFC, Gate Village
Building No 3, Level 1
PO Box 113355
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
+971 (0) 4401 9722

Dublin
5 George’s Dock
IFSC, Dublin 1
+353 (0)1 790 9400

Edinburgh
No. 2 Lochrin Square
96 Fountainbridge
Edinburgh EH3 9QA
+44 (0)131 226 5541

Glasgow
Dalmore House
310 St Vincent Street
Glasgow G2 5QR
+44 (0)141 228 8000

Leeds
Bridgewater Place
Water Lane
Leeds LS11 5DY
+44 (0)113 261 6000

Officers and professional advisers

Designated members
P A Berry
J D Edwards
A R Leaitherland
S Miles
A G Peacock
I J Slater

Auditor
Deloitte LLP
2 Hardman Street
Chartered Accountants
& Statutory Auditor
Manchester M3 3HF

Liverpool
5 St Paul’s Square
Old Hall Street
Liverpool L3 9AE
+44 (0)151 907 3000

London
20 Fenchurch Street
London EC3M 3AG
+44 (0)20 7280 8888

Manchester
1 Scott Place
2 Hardman Street
Manchester M3 3AA
+44 (0)161 603 5000

Milton Keynes
3rd Floor, Exchange House
494 Midsummer Boulevard
Milton Keynes MK9 2EA
+44 (0)190 825 5614

Newcastle
Great North House
Sandyford Road
Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ND
+44 (0)191 233 9700

Preston
6 Winckley Square
Preston PR1 3JJ
+44 (0)1772 556677

DWF Annual Review 2014-2015

Go further

DWF is the legal business where expertise, industry knowledge
and leading edge technology converge to deliver solutions
that enable our clients to excel. Embracing our diverse skills,
we gain a unique and more valuable legal perspective that can
empower our clients, giving them a competitive advantage or
simply delivering new solutions to old problems.

With over 2,300 people across the business, we make sure
that wherever you are, wherever you aim to be, we will
go further to help you get there.

DWF LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales (registered number OC328794). DWF LLP is authorised and
regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. DWF LLP is also recognised as an incorporated practice with the Law Society of
Scotland (registered number 43186). DWF in Ireland is a partnership regulated by the Law Society of Ireland.

DWF LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

The term Partner is used to refer to a Member of DWF LLP or an employee or consultant with equivalent standing and qualification.

A list of the Members of DWF LLP and of the Non-Members who are designated as Partners is open to inspection at its registered
office, 1 Scott Place, 2 Hardman Street, Manchester M3 3AA. Ref 2665 231015

dwf.co.uk