Connected Futures
Annual Review
2016/2017
www.dwf.law
“DWF has been a trusted adviser for Whitbread for many years,
and I am delighted that the relationship continues to strengthen.
Earlier this year, we reviewed all of external our legal spend, and
were looking to appoint a more strategic partner for our business at
a significantly better price. As a result of this review, DWF was
appointed to provide all our property law advice, across both
Premier Inn and Costa, as both businesses continue their ambitious
growth plans. We were looking for a combination of excellent legal
skills and a commercially astute and value-adding approach, at the
right price. DWF ticked all these boxes very well.”
Chris Vaughan - General Counsel, Whitbread
“We regard DWF and in particular the London team as a trusted
advisor relationship. Service levels, attention to detail, accessibility
and commitment to helping us in a commercial and efficient way
are all top drawer qualities of DWF. They take pride in getting to
know us, our business and what we require from our legal
advisors and we take pride in having them working with us.”
Paul Argent - Regional Head of Corporate and Structured Finance, Clydesdale Bank
“We have really enjoyed working with DWF over the course of the
last 12 months and value their support. We like their partner led
style, which is very much focussed on getting the deal done in the
smoothest possible way without fuss or drama. A dynamic and
internationally driven firm.”
Mike Hodges - Director, Corporate Coverage London, HSBC Bank PLC
“Perhaps what sets apart the interaction we have with DWF is
their ethos of understanding our requirements and aspirations
and working together to develop a solution rather than listening
then just offering an additional service they already have. Their
first thought it to ensure the right solution or approach is defined
rather than to ensure that DWF benefit from additional revenue.”
Chris Carr - Head of Risk Management, ERS Insurance Group
Contents
02
DWF at a Glance 06
05
CEO Review 14
08
CSR 28
11
03
Our Journey 10
06
Strategic Progress 18
09
DWF Foundation 34
12
Governance 38
Financial Review 46
01
Welcome 04
04
Chairman’s Report 12
07
Our International Growth
Story FY 16/17 24
10
Our Purpose 36
13
Financial Reports 48
Unless otherwise stated to the contrary, or unless the context so requires, all references to DWF
mean DWF LLP, a Limited Liability Partnership with registered number OC328794.
3
1
Welcome
As a global legal business, we see our purpose
as transforming legal services through our people
for our clients. Led by Managing Partner and CEO
Andrew Leaitherland, we have over 2,700 people
delivering services and solutions that go beyond
expectations.
We engage our people to be part
of our journey. Our purpose is to
transform legal services through
our people for our clients.
Building business relationships that
inspire trust and confidence across
all levels of our business, means we
deliver an exceptional client experience.
To achieve this, we engage our people
to always be part of our journey.
We have been named by the Financial
Times as one of Europe’s most
innovative legal advisers, known
for doing things differently and going
beyond expectations for our clients
and our people.
We connect on a global scale, sharing
our knowledge and technical expertise
to identify and anticipate challenges
for clients within their sectors.
We work with a range
of FTSE 100 multinational
household names to
private individuals,
from both the public
and private sector.
5
2
DWF at
a Glance
Sectors
We have deep expertise within eight core sectors.
1
2
3
Energy and Industrials
Financial Services
Insurance
4
5
6
Public Sector
Real Estate
Retail, Food and Hospitality
7
8
Technology
Transport
Current Key Statistics
People
2,700
There are now over 2,700 people
across the DWF Group.
People in
11
countries
across
four
continents
Locations
25
locations
We have offices in 25 locations,
in 11 countries, across 4 continents:
• Belfast
• Berlin
• Birmingham
• Brisbane
• Bristol
• Brussels
• Chicago
• Cologne
• Dubai
• Dublin
• Edinburgh
• Glasgow
• Leeds
• Liverpool
• London
• Manchester
• Melbourne
• Milan
• Milton Keynes
• Munich
• Newcastle
• Paris
• Singapore
• Sydney
• Toronto
• We have an exclusive association with Harasani & Alkhamees in Jeddah and Riyadh.
• In Argentina, we work in association with VAGEDES & Asociados.
• In Colombia, we work in association with Duarte Garcia Abogados.
• In Panama, we work in association with Fabrega Molino.
7
Financial
Clients
Revenue
£199.3m
Operating Profit
£43.6m
28%
We work for 28%
of the FTSE 100
21%
We work for 21%
of the FTSE 250
Client satisfaction
8.6
average score
Client loyalty
9.2
average score
Values
Our culture is
shaped by our values.
As a business, we
genuinely believe
in our value set,
which was created
by our people.
Attend to details
Paying attention to every last detail is the right
way to ensure that clients experience the very
best of DWF.
• Communicate effectively and professionally
• Deliver on your objectives and targets
• Give and encourage constructive feedback
• Understand your impact on our commercial and
financial achievement
• Say thank you.
Be better
together
Always
aim higher
Attend to
details
Keep all
promises
Disrupt to
progress
Disrupt to progress
Be better together
Just because there’s an established way of doing things,
it doesn’t mean it’s the best way.
By supporting each other and working as a team,
we can achieve more for our clients and ourselves.
• Champion new ideas
• Embrace and promote change
• Seek opportunities for improvement and growth
• Have an opinion and get involved
• Pause. Think differently.
• Connect across the business
• Recognise, respect and value each other
• Be visible and accessible
• Promote knowledge sharing
• Encourage, enable and empower others.
Keep all promises
Always aim higher
A promise is a promise, no matter how large or small. By
keeping promises we build trust, loyalty and commitment.
By refusing to do only the minimum and reaching further
every time, we expand the realm of what’s possible.
• Listen carefully, promise accordingly
• Take ownership
• Be transparent and genuine
• Do what you say you will
• Have a ‘can do’ attitude.
• Strive to beat expectations
• Deliver service excellence
• Immerse yourself in your field
• Be a role model for best practice
• Drive development in yourself and others.
9
3
Our Journey
We’re client-led and as demand grew we
didn’t wait around. Joining our clients on their
growth journey has led us to become a global
legal business, connecting expert services with
innovative thinkers.
Jim Davies and Guy Wallis
founded Liverpool-based
Law Firm Davies Wallis &
Co. specialising in Real
Estate and Litigation
1977
Service line expansion
continued with the launch
of our Employment and
Pensions team
1985
We merged with Foysters
to become Davies Wallis
Foyster, and Private Client
and Family services became
available to all clients
1990
1980
Our business expanded
to provide Corporate and
Commercial legal services
1988
We merged with Dodd
Ashcroft and saw the
inception of our now
market-leading
Insurance offering
1992
Our service line expansion
continued with the
launch of our Finance and
Restructuring team
We merged with German
international commercial
Law Firm BridgehouseLaw,
with offices in Munich and
Cologne, and strengthened
our Insurance expertise by
merging with Fox Hartley in
Bristol and C&H Jefferson
in Belfast
We opened our flagship
London office at 20
Fenchurch Street
2016
We merged with Crutes,
Buller Jeffries and Biggart
Baillie, further expanding
our geographic footprint
2014
2012
We merged with Leeds-
based Ricksons, and
Davies Wallis Foyster
officially became DWF LLP
2007
2011
We aligned ourselves with
our clients’ businesses by
redefining sector expertise
within DWF, creating
teams across practice
areas and offices
2013
We merged with Fishburns
and Cobbetts and were
joined by a 47-strong
team from Greenwoods/
Parabis, strengthening our
Insurance and Commercial
services offering
2015
We opened offices in
Dubai and Brussels,
merged with niche market-
leading insurance practice
Watmores, launched
our innovation business
and The DWF Charitable
Foundation
2017
Our global headcount
reaches over 2,700 people.
We acquired Heenan
Paris to launch in France,
acquired Triton Global to
stretch our footprint over
to Australia, Canada and
the USA whilst further
deepening our global
Insurance practice.
We opened our Berlin
office to strengthen our
Financial Services, Real
Estate and Corporate M&A
service lines and continued
to develop our international
capabilities by opening
DWF offices in Brisbane,
Melbourne, Milan
and Singapore
11
4
Chairman’s
Report
Alan Benzie
The post-Brexit landscape
It has undoubtedly been another tough year
economically, with the impact of Brexit taking
its toll on businesses.
Like others, we have felt the pressure
of the referendum, which has led to a
slowdown in our commercial services
business, particularly in real estate and,
to some extent, corporate transactions.
Above all, Brexit has brought uncertainty,
and that continued uncertainty has
arrested growth in a lot of areas.
Engaging people and clients
Our strategy of innovation and doing
things differently is paying dividends,
as we have continued our lateral hire
programme and secured some
excellent client wins both within the
UK and internationally.
We coped well with the challenges
presented by the uncertainty in the
economy during the early months of
the financial year indeed, our ability to
adapt to these challenges lead us to
a marked improvement in the second
half of the year.
We’ve also made some great steps
towards further embedding people
engagement and values and have
introduced temperature-checking for the
first time. This has been championed by
our Engaging People Executive and
follows the delivery of our first People
Engagement Survey last year, the results
of which were shared with all our people.
This year we have continued to check in
with our people and ensured that the
action plans we created for each part of
our business to address areas of concern
were being implemented.
Reflecting on a decade
I joined DWF as Chairman in 2007, when
the business had three offices across the
North West of England, with circa 800
employees and turnover in the region of
£40m. Ten years on, we will see turnover
well in excess of £200m next year, with
11 offices within the UK, 14 international
offices and over 2,700 people globally.
This has been achieved through hard
work, commitment and unstinted
professionalism. There has also been,
collectively, a great willingness to listen
to our clients and an unwavering
ambition to fulfil their commercial needs
– coupled with a big dose of innovation
and a sprinkling of good luck!
I am very proud to be associated with
DWF, all its partners and its people, and
particularly the charismatic Andrew
Leaitherland. What better time to hand
over the reins and to whom better than
Sir Nigel Knowles. I wish them all good
fortune and believe I am leaving the role
in excellent hands. I look forward to
working with them for another year as
a non-Executive Board Member.
“There has also been, collectively,
a great willingness to listen to our
clients and an unwavering ambition
to fulfil their commercial needs.”
“We have done
well this year and
achieved our goals.”
Removing the mystique
of legal services
This year we have experienced the
continued changing expectations and
attitudes of our clients. Clients are ever
increasingly more sophisticated in the
expectations of their professional
advisers. This is not only driven by a need
for cost-savings but also clients’ desire
for more sophisticated management
reporting of the process and progress
of their legal matters and their need for
transparency in how we deliver. This has
enhanced our commitment to doing
things differently to achieve
comprehensive services for them.
Expansion trail
We also continued our strategic expansion
this year, with the acquisition of C&H
Jefferson in Belfast and Fox Hartley in
Bristol, along with the launch of our
inaugural French office in Paris. We also
acquired Triton Global, which was a
standout development of the year. It was
a great opportunity to preserve the
innovative Triton business and allowed us
to expand our legal professional indemnity
offering, embolden our claims handling
capabilities and, importantly, gave us new
offices in Australia, Canada and the USA.
We also were able to acquire Triton’s
technology subsidiary, which has enabled
us to provide a more comprehensive
range of software solutions for our
clients. Coupled with the acquisition of
Triton’s claims handling business, we
were able to amalgamate these additional
services into our growing Connected
Services offering. It has been a genuinely
holistic partnership that has strengthened
what we already had in place.
Although the technical integration of
various mergers has been difficult at
times, we have really become more
astute and responsive to the needs of
those joining our business. This to a large
extent has been achieved by all our
people, but in particular a number of our
central services teams.
13
5
CEO
Review
Andrew Leaitherland
Strategic Review
Remaining true to our purpose is our strategic
imperative; it underpins and drives all that we
do. Our strategy reflects our purpose and has
been very clearly mapped out: to meet our
clients’ demands wherever they are in the
world, and uniquely, to be able to offer our
clients a completely integrated platform that
transforms legal solutions and blends legal
and non-legal services to meet and solve their
business challenges.
DWF is on an exciting journey and the
business evolved significantly during
16/17, making significant progress
against our strategy. The year was
characterised by continued expansion
both in the UK through our Commercial
Services and Insurance divisions as well
an internationally with an ambitious
growth agenda.
Our acquisition of Triton, gave us offices
in Chicago, Toronto and Sydney and with
its focus on claims and loss adjusting,
we also crucially laid the groundwork for
building our non-legal services offering,
Connected Services.
“With our investments in the UK,
international expansion and foundations laid
for our non-legal services offering,
we made significant progress in FY 16/17.”
Our core strategic themes
3. Doing things differently
To do things differently we think
differently. Across our teams this has
always been our stock-in-trade. From the
word go, we make clients feel that it is
a completely different experience when
working with DWF.
Across all four Divisions – Commercial,
Insurance, International and Connected
Services our strong focus continues to
be on the three elements of our strategy
– understanding our clients' and their
very individual needs; engaging our
people to ensure they feel and become
part of our journey; delivering for our
clients through our people by doing
things differently. We have continued to
make further progress in each of these
areas throughout the year.
1. Understanding our clients
Collaborating closely with our clients is
the key to all that we do. This allows us
to understand our client's commercial
objectives and to create bespoke
solutions enabling our clients to achieve
and deliver their business targets. Key
to this strategy is the use of technology,
where we have become market leaders
in the use of client tailored technology,
including creating and developing
bespoke solutions and using data as an
opportunity to inform better decisions.
2. Engaging our people
Our people are at the heart of everything
we do and achieve. We continue to
connect internally and externally and
minimise our negative impacts on
society whilst maximising our positive
impacts though CSR and the DWF
Foundation, enabling our people to be
catalysts for change for our clients and
for our business.
Throughout the year we have continued
to focus on how we can innovate our
services, identifying and implementing
efficiency changes, expanding what we
offer clients and embracing continuous
improvement throughout each Division.
We have anticipated and responded
quickly to areas of disruption, by looking at
completely new models and increasingly
the digitisation of our services.
15
“The new alliance strengthens
our capability to deliver
Litigation and Dispute
Resolution, Corporate,
Construction and Employment
work for both domestic and
international clients and
signals our commitment to
growth and investment in the
MENA region.”
Building volume and complex
centres of excellence
The year saw us continuing to build
and invest in the volume work we do,
by creating a centre of excellence in
Liverpool, focused on delivering a
high-quality offering to our clients,
genuinely tailored to their needs.
The Liverpool office was specifically
redesigned and upgraded to offer a
better, more contemporary working
environment, utilising the latest
technology and working practices. Initially
focusing on the Motor division, it offers
clients an end-to-end solution by creating
a business to specifically understand and
deliver their work in the most effective
way possible. This volume hub will be
expanded to other areas of volume work
over the coming year.
Connected Services: catalyst
for change
We recognise that giving clients a range
of connected services that complement
our legal offering means we can add
value far beyond the traditional legal
adviser role, providing clients an
end-to-end service to solve their
business challenges.
Acquiring Triton, a multidisciplinary
business, enabled us to broaden our
suite of products and services to
include Loss Adjusting and Claims
Handling. It was the catalyst to look
at our portfolio to see what sort of
approach we should have to Connected
Services and sectors moving forward.
“With our investments in the
UK, international expansion
and foundations laid for our
non-legal services offering,
we made significant progress
in FY 16/17 to fulfil our
purpose of transforming legal
services though our people for
our clients.”
Strategic international expansion
During FY 16/17, we further expanded
our presence in strategically important
regions for our clients including Ireland,
Germany, France and the Middle East,
which not only offer significant
opportunities in our primary sectors,
including Insurance, Real Estate and
Financial services, but also offer
strategic gateway links into other
growth regions and key international
markets including Africa, Israel,
Southeast Asia and the USA.
With our Belfast office opening in
December 2016, we became one of
the very few firms to have offices in
both Northern Ireland and the Republic
of Ireland, enabling us to provide greater
support to clients post-Brexit and
leverage our international network of
offices to provide a truly cross-border
service to both UK and Irish clients.
We also increased investment in our
Dublin office, launching new Corporate
and Real Estate practices.
In January 2017, we merged with
Paris-based Firm Heenan Paris. France
is a key region for DWF in terms of our
size and significance within the broader
European market as well as our strong
links to Africa.
Following the consistent growth of our
Dubai office, which was launched in
response to client demand for support on
the ground for construction, energy,
insurance and transport matters, and the
increasing opportunities for our clients in
the Gulf Cooperarion Council, in February
2017 we announced an exclusive
association with Saudi Law Firm Harasani
& Alkhamees.
The three elements
of our strategy
1.
Understanding
Our Clients
2.
Engaging
Our People
DWF
Strategy
3.
Doing Things
Differently
17
6
Strategic
Progress
Our purpose as a legal business is to transform
the legal market through our people for our clients.
To do that we set a very clear strategy in 2014.
The three elements of our strategy are to
understand our clients’ needs so we can offer them
a complete cradle to grave service; engage our
people so they feel and become part of the journey
and then delivering it all by doing things differently.
Seema Bains,
Partner and Chair of Diversity
Steering Group.
19
1. Understanding our clients
We collaborate closely with and establish a strong connection with our clients, creating a platform which
enables our clients to achieve their commercial objectives. We are market leaders in the use of client-tailored
technology, including creating and developing bespoke solutions and using data as an opportunity to inform
better decisions. Sector insight is key to our ambitious market strategy. Through greater industry knowledge
and a better understanding of their needs we are able to go beyond expectations.
Why this is important?
In repeated research, the number one reason for clients discriminating between legal service providers is
the degree to which their business is understood.
Strategic progress: Technology and sectors
Strategy
Progress
• Where our competitors struggle,
we will lead the way in the
development and use of client-
tailored technology.
• Sector insight is key to our go to market
strategy. In everything we do our
industry expertise will shine through.
• The real key to technology is
understanding where its
application can deliver the greatest
advantages to our clients.
• Demonstrating sector insight
has resulted in winning new
clients such as Uber, where
we used our ‘doing things
differently’ strategy as a
real differentiator.
• Cross-sector competence Groups
are focusing on InsureTech
and CyberSecurity, working
together across technology
and insurance sectors to identify
new opportunities.
• Total new client revenues
across the sectors in
FY 16/17 = £20m.
• Recent campaigns including
‘The Future of Food’ and
‘Why transport is key to economic
prosperity’ bring sector insights,
adding value to our clients and
generating new work.
Strategic progress: Client management
Strategy
Progress
• The way we approach our client
relationships is making us different –
going beyond what is expected of us.
Understanding that the role of a
General Counsel is far more than just
legal work – it's about assisting them
with the business of law.
• We now offer a more structured
approach for our clients – offering
multiple touchpoints within our
business and educating them as to
what we can really do for them.
• Institutionalising our relationships –
the strategy is already beginning to
show real benefits to both us and
our clients.
• Every Top 40 client has an
up-to-date client plan and
team with clear objectives.
• Each Top 40 and Development
Client is visited at the very least
annually by a client relationship
manager – which has led to
a deeper understanding of
many clients and their very
specific needs.
• Acting as a strategic partner to
our clients ensures a closer, more
strategic and ultimately stronger,
longer-lasting relationship.
• A more bespoke approach to
clients – this ensures clients are
introduced to only the products
and services they need and will
benefit them.
2. Engaging our people
The way we do business is based on our core values and reflects the behaviours that we want to be known for.
We strive to recruit, nurture and retain high-quality and motivated lawyers, talented managers and inspiring leaders.
Why this is important
We recognise that by engaging our people we will drive our business forward responsibly and effectively. We want
to create opportunities for our people to make a difference, further their careers and generate a sense of pride and
belonging to DWF.
Strategic progress: Recruitment
Strategy
Progress
• Our people will always be developed
and rewarded on merit according to
what they contribute, not time served.
• We acknowledge the benefits of
a diverse workforce and we'll
continue to push this agenda to the
benefit of us as a business as well
as our clients.
• We know that you don’t need to have
a practising certificate to be good –
we will become market leaders in
talent management ensuring that we
become the employer of choice in
this market segment.
Sector-leading performance
• Top 100 Employer (36th place) in
Stonewall LGBT Benchmarking
Index (11th in legal sector).
• Top 10 Employer on Working
Families (second year running).
• Named a diversity pioneer
in The Lawyer’s inaugural
diversity audit.
People survey
• 73% believed that leaders
supported diversity and inclusion.
• 1st Law Firm in the UK to
• 80% felt they were treated with
achieve and retain ClearAssured
status for identifying and
removing barriers to disabled
talent.
dignity and respect at work.
• 80% felt their line manager
considered their life outside
of work.
• Recognised as one of the
most innovative Law Firms
on diversity – Financial Times
Innovative Lawyers Report.
Strategic progress: Culture and values
Strategy
Progress
• Our culture and values are everything.
Our people not only want a great place
to work but they take great pride in
creating it. Every team member will
live our values and exemplify our
brand, recognising that acting as a
team we will be more successful than
acting as a group of individuals.
• We will constantly champion new
ideas, challenge the norm, have an
opinion and get involved, be
authentic, collaborative and, above
all, always keep our promises.
Everyone in DWF has an equal voice
and should be willing to use it to
make our business a better business.
• As a team and as individuals, we will
give and receive feedback, convey
honest opinions, decisively and with
confidence, we will commit to doing
things differently and we will never
shy away from challenges. Open
communication and transparency
become the norm.
Talent management
• DWF Academy investment:
CSR
• DWF is one of only 34 businesses
improved firm-wide induction,
targeted NQ Programme,
Mentoring and Peer Group
Networks, Business Skills
workshops with 74% attendance,
2,191 online learning modules
completed in FY 16/17 (now being
used internationally), targeted
programme focused management
as well as business development.
• Established network of People
Partners. Divisional Leadership
Programmes delivered or under
way. 360 Feedback rolled out for
Career Level 1s.
• Talent is being evaluated against
our strategy, with succession and
leadership risk being addressed.
in the UK to currently hold
Business in the Community’s
CommunityMark.
• 36% of our people were engaged in
volunteering activities over the last
12 months against a kpi of 30%.
• Through the DWF Foundation,
we have distributed £156,356
in grants, supporting 61 charities
so far.
• Nearly 2,000 young people
across Birmingham, Edinburgh,
Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool,
London, Manchester, Newcastle
and Preston have participated in
5 STAR Futures, engaging 600
volunteers in 2016 investing 1100
hours of their time.
21
3. Doing things differently
We live by the saying “what we did six months ago is no longer good enough”. We are disrupting
the legal market and creating something completely different. We are making clients feel from the
word go that it is a completely different experience dealing with DWF.
We are focused on how we redesign our services, identifying efficiency changes, expanding what
we offer clients and embracing continuous improvement. At the same time we are anticipating
areas of disruption and making sure we are able to respond first, by looking at completely new
models and increasingly the digitalisation of services.
Why this is important
Our market is developing – and quickly. This situation provides us with an enormous opportunity
for growth and diversification.
Strategic progress: Structure
Strategy
Progress
• Through structural innovation,
enhanced teamwork and appropriate
geographical alignment we will
enable our lawyers to focus on high-
value work whilst driving unrivalled
efficiency in process work.
• Deconstructing silos and
centralising platforms will create a
brand new industry model and this
approach will make us famous for
doing things differently.
• We will drive the alignment of our
resources through process-
mapping and the use of leading-
edge technology, ensuring we
deliver the right price point for our
clients and for us.
• Creation of Centre of Excellence
for volume work in Liverpool.
• Creation of Connected Services
as a division.
• Re-designed services including:
– Real Estate Asset
Management
– Litigation injunctions
– Employment settlements.
• New technology concepts for:
– Digital due diligence
– Virtual assistant platforms
– AI document review
– Digital scoping.
• Built a credible business in
DWF 360.
• DWF Resource.
• Legal Support Centre and
Asset Management Centre
in Manchester.
• DWF Draft
– Internal use
– Client products and
propositions.
Strategic progress: Pricing and excellence
Strategy
Progress
• When clients talk of innovation in
pricing, we will be at the forefront
of their minds. The use of hourly
rates will be the exception rather
than the rule.
• Pricing tools through Pricing
Masterclass.
• Creation of governance through
Pricing Committee.
• In a market where good is the norm,
we deliver excellence every day in
everything we do. The way we did
things six months ago is no longer
good enough.
• Network of Excellence
Champions driving
improvements – FY 16/17 Real
Estate up to 89% compliance
across all audited files.
• Evidence of Supervision on
files across all Commercial
Services up to 90%, assisted
by introduction of firm-wide File
Management Guidelines.
• NBI and Letters of Engagement
projects – vastly increased
compliance with LoE.
• SLA Hub providing increased
visibility of clients' requirements.
Strategic progress: Geography
Strategy
Progress
• London will be a major growth
• London now has 359 people,
• In FY 16/17, we have laterally
opportunity for us, providing a shop
window for our national platform.
up from 307 in 2014.
• International expansion, whilst
predominantly client-led and
consistent with our culture, needs
to also embrace the opportunistic.
• The UK and Ireland is our
immediate priority but we recognise
that the nature of our work will have
an increasingly international focus.
• In 2014, we had a Dublin office.
Now we have Belfast, Berlin,
Brisbane, Brussels, Chicago,
Cologne, Dubai, Dublin,
Melbourne, Milan, Munich, Paris,
Singapore, Sydney, and Toronto.
• Internationally, we have laterally
hired 18 partners.
hired 28 partners. This
supported the recent merger
and acquisition of Watmores
(£1m), Fox Hartley (£1.8m),
Triton Global (£17.8m) and C&H
Jefferson (£6.4m).
(Figures are based on
Annual Review.)
• Ireland has seen the addition
of Belfast (C&H Jefferson) with
85 people and the growth of
Dublin from 19 to 42 people.
23
7
Our
International
Growth Story
FY 16/17
We are always looking at strategic opportunities
for growth that will enhance our legal capability
in key sectors and allow us to offer our clients
advantages in terms of resource, reach and multi-
jurisdiction expertise. Our international expansion
is driven by client need.
Belfast
On 1 December 2016, DWF merged with C&H
Jefferson, one of the largest legal practices in
Northern Ireland and recognised as a leader in the
Belfast market. The Firm brought over 100 years’
experience in delivering specialist legal services to
a diverse range of clients across Northern Ireland.
insurers in defence litigation, including the Law Society
of Northern Ireland’s Professional Indemnity Insurers.
In addition to general defence work, the team has
expertise in Industrial Disease litigation and is one of only
four Firms appointed to the Law Society of Northern
Ireland’s negligence claims panel.
The legal market in Northern Ireland is vibrant and
rapidly changing, and the merger has allowed us to start
taking advantage of the growing number of
opportunities it presents for our clients in target sectors.
The new DWF Belfast office has a strong commercial
practice with a particular focus on the Banking and
Finance sector, advising the domestic and international
banks and financial institutions as well as providing
specialist Insolvency and Restructuring advice to
insolvency practitioners. DWF Belfast also has a leading
Commercial Real Estate practice and within the
Northern Irish energy sector, has built an impressive
track record across the renewables area.
The team also has specific expertise in Litigation,
Professional Indemnity, Public Liability and Motor Claims,
complementing our existing national insurance practice,
and advises several leading national and international
“As our international client base
continued to grow, we looked at how
we could best adapt in order to meet
their changing needs. DWF was a very
strong fit for us in terms of its culture and
approach to legal services, and through
the merger we have been able to create
new opportunities for our clients with
the benefit of DWF’s expansive national
footprint, service efficiencies and
growing international remit.”
Ken Rutherford, Executive Partner in Belfast.
Dublin
Our Dublin office has seen significant
investment and growth this year and now offers
full service and capability from leading lawyers,
with a focus on Real Estate, Banking, Litigation,
Corporate and Energy/Infrastructure.
Key partners in Dublin include Executive Partner
Ross Little, real estate partner Michael Neary,
professional indemnity partner Nina Gaston,
banking partner Louis Burke, litigation partner
Eimear Collins and energy and project finance
partner Garrett Monaghan.
It is a full service practice covering the whole of the
UK and the Republic of Ireland, which naturally offers
many benefits to our clients, including a truly one-firm
mentality across these different jurisdictions. Our
Dublin and Belfast teams work closely together to
build our overall Island of Ireland practice with focus
on insurance and banking in particular.
“The Dublin office has made several
key appointments over the year and we
have launched a dedicated Real Estate
practice to support clients in the region
and ensure the team is well-equipped
to take advantage of the growing
opportunities as a result of Brexit and
Ireland’s fast-growing economy.”
Ross Little, Executive Partner in Dublin.
25
Paris
DWF added a Paris office on 1 January 2017 by
merging with Heenan Paris, a Paris-based Firm
with a similarly international outlook. Partners
Jean-François Mercadier, Ali Boroumand, Pascale
Gallien and Anne-Sylvie Vassenaix-Paxton joined
DWF, and in the first few months since opening
we have recruited several more new partners
into core service lines as we continue to target
growth opportunities.
As one of Germany’s largest and most significant
trading partners, France is a strategically important
region that complements DWF’s already-expanding
European footprint, and is not only a key market for
us in terms of size and importance within Europe, but
also because our clients are increasingly instructing us
on work with a significant French legal component.
The office has a strong international client base with
a particular focus on Corporate, Private Equity,
Commercial, IP/IT and Litigation, and we also intend
to look at further consolidation opportunities,
especially with insurance-focused Firms, to build
an insurance practice in France.
The merger with Heenan Paris also provided a link into
other international jurisdictions. It also brought a
relationship with South African law Firm Thomson
Wilks, a full service Law Firm that has offices in each
of the major commercial centres in South Africa and
an established Chinese department that targets the
enormous amount of Chinese investment being made
into Africa. France also plays an important role as a
gateway to Africa, which is of strategic importance to
our clients in the Middle East and Germany. Africa is
an emerging growth region in its own right with many
opportunities to develop business and revenues in
sectors that play to our strengths such as Energy,
Regulation, Regulated Activities, Insurance and
Financial services.
“We are particularly happy to contribute
to the development of an international
platform whose ambition is to be present
in key financial centres and with a focus
on key growth markets such as Africa to
the benefit of our clients.”
Jean-François Mercadier, Managing Partner of
DWF France.
Berlin
DWF opened an office in Berlin in April 2017 in
order to strengthen its Financial services, Real
Estate and Corporate/M&A service lines and
continue building its European presence.
The Berlin office was DWF’s third in Germany,
following the opening of Cologne and Munich in
2015. The office focuses particularly on the Financial
Services sector, where we have a growing specialism
in Fintech, and we are also focused on growing our
European Corporate/M&A practice, benefiting from
Berlin’s well-established private equity and
international venture capital scene. We will continue
to build our International Real Estate practice to
complement our strong national team in the UK as
well as what is an increasingly active Construction
and Infrastructure practice in DWF Dubai.
“Having spent the last year focusing
on the strategic growth of our Cologne
and Munich offices, including the
development of a strong technology
sector practice, DWF is in a good position
to take advantage of the opportunities
presented in the Berlin market. The city
has become the digitilisation capital of
Germany, with a thriving Fintech and
international start-up business scene
that is a natural fit for our expertise and
will be key as we build our German and
international client base.”
Michael Falter, Managing Partner of DWF Germany.
Dubai
Since entering the Dubai market as a greenfield
start-up at the beginning of 2015, DWF in Dubai
is now recognised as one of the UAE’s most
innovative and fastest-growing legal advisers.
The office has successfully grown to a team of
25 lawyers and expanded its offering from
Construction and Infrastructure to now also advise
clients across the Gulf region on International
Arbitration, Arabic Litigation, Real Estate,
Government and Regulatory and Corporate and
Commercial work.
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
In FY 16/17, we significantly strengthened our
Middle East presence with the launch of an
exclusive association with Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia Firm Harasani & Alkhamees, a dynamic
Law Firm known for high levels of client service.
Led by Dr Hamid Harasani and Dr Ahmad
Alkhamees, and based in offices in Riyadh and
Jeddah, the Firm focus on Litigation and Dispute
Resolution, Corporate, Construction, Family and
Private Client and Employment for regional and
international clients.
KSA is the region’s largest state and economy, with
ambitious plans to develop and diversify their
economy. It is therefore a hugely important
jurisdiction for DWF as we grow in the Middle East,
and so we sought an association partner who could
help us continue to build our profile and expand our
offering in the region.
“Since the launch of DWF Middle
East in 2015, we have experienced
consistent growth and continue to
attract key senior talent, which enables
us to build our capability in the region
and deliver more specialist services to
local and firm-wide clients. Our new
partners have brought a huge wealth
of knowledge which complement the
team’s ability to deliver high-value work
to clients.”
Stefan Paciorek, CEO-International Division.
“Harasani & Alkhamees and DWF
place the same emphasis on being
client-focused and delivering a top-class
legal service. We are impressed by DWF’s
state-of-the-art premises, the diversity
of their legal offerings, their wealth of
experience, their client-centric approach,
and their ability to deliver a seamless
service across different countries. We are
excited by our newly formed association
and are confident that this will be
positively received by the Saudi legal
services market.”
Dr Hamid Harasani, Co-founding Partner of Harasani
& Alkhamees.
Our international strategy anticipates looking in
an eastward direction from Europe and at
Singapore in particular. Since the end of FY
16/17 we have opened an office in Singapore,
that launched in August 2017, which is the key
hub for the ASEAN region and one in which
most of our key clients are already active.
ASEAN is one of the largest economic zones
in the world, with 625 million people and
growing, and is projected to be the fourth
largest global economy by 2030. The region is
set to continue growing very significantly in
both population and economically, with
attendant demand for infrastructure, technology,
energy, insurance and service demands
including retail and hospitality.
27
Future plans
8
CSR
The way we do business is based on our values
and reflects the behaviours that we want to be
known for. We run our business with integrity and
want our culture and values to be at the heart of
everything we do, recognising that our people not
only want a great place to work, but take pride in
being part of a principled business.
As we build our international presence,
our values and culture are being
influenced by a much broader range of
factors than ever before, including modern
slavery and human rights. DWF is proud
to support the UN Global Compact and its
business principles covering human rights,
employment standards, environment and
anti-corruption.
It is also our ambition
to better use our expertise
and motivation to align
the way we do business
to the UN Sustainable
Development Goals.
Continuing to evolve our
response to CSR in this way
demonstrates a strong,
well-informed management
attitude that is alert and
responsive to the challenges
and opportunities of doing
business in a global context.
We have worked hard to create
a blueprint for responsible
business that will help protect
DWF for the future.
Safeguarding our long-term
future is about profit with
purpose, recognising the more
successful we become, the
greater impact we can have as
a force for good.
The most successful businesses invest
heavily in the development of their
people and culture. Within this scenario,
colleague advocacy and a strong and
responsible brand will continue to be
critical market differentiators for DWF.
Without thriving communities
and talented people our
business won’t be sustainable,
so we have a responsibility to
contribute to community
prosperity by innovating,
learning and improving.
We believe in the power of our people
to make a difference by giving their time
and talent to help those in need and
being a catalyst for change.
Volunteering and fundraising have long
been a part of the culture at DWF and
by continuing to focus our efforts on
education, employability, health and
well-being and homelessness, we
can make a material difference to the
communities in which we live and work.
Ty Jones,
Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Engagement.
29
Social value and achievements
Our focus for community investment is measured through take up of volunteering opportunities and feedback via regular
dialogue with our local CSR teams and our People Engagement Survey. These engagements help to keep our CSR programme
focused on the social issues which matter the most to our people and the communities in which we live and work.
How we add social value
Why we do it
How we do it
• We identify the social issues most
relevant to our business and most
pressing to the communities we
work with.
• We work in partnership with our
communities, leveraging our combined
expertise for mutual benefit.
• We plan and manage our community
investment using the most appropriate
resources to deliver against our targets.
• We encourage and engage our people,
clients and suppliers to support our
community programmes.
• We measure and evaluate the difference
our investment has in the community
and on our business, and strive for
continuous improvement.
• To reduce unemployment and
improve opportunities for those often
furthest from employment, changing
perceptions amongst employers; of
talent and where it is sourced.
• To create a lasting skills legacy for
local people through the training
they receive.
• To help build more resilient
communities through a focus on skills
development, aspiration, confidence
and well-being.
• To create economic, educational, social
and cultural opportunities that provide
individuals with connections outside
their communities to help break the
intergenerational cycle of poverty.
• Community partnerships
including Business in the
Community and Benefacto
• 5 Star Futures – our flagship
education programme
• DWF Charitable Foundation
• Apprenticeships
• Volunteering and Mentoring
• People engagement
• Targeted investment
• Social Impact –
CSR measurement tool
• Benchmarking and Awards
Achievements
What we achieved
Why it was important
What the benefits are
We continue to inspire our people
to get involved in volunteering and
mentoring: Our fee-earning
community alone invested 8,455
hours in community activity from
1 May 2016 to 30 April 2017.
Our 5 Star Futures education
programme benefited nearly 2,000
young people 600 volunteers in
2016 and investing 1100 hours of
their time.
We published our first Modern
Slavery Statement and Anti-Slavery
Policy following the introduction of
the UK Government Modern Slavery
Act 2015.
All DWF suppliers are expected to
implement a zero tolerance
approach to slavery, forced labour
and human trafficking and our
procedures are designed to identify
and assess areas of potential risk.
Youth unemployment is significantly
higher than the UK average in cities
where DWF is based.
Increasing numbers of young people
from low- income backgrounds who
have improved their confidence.
We want to stop social background
predicting a young person’s success.
Developing a variety of opportunities
to gain key employability skills and
become more work-ready.
Slavery, forced labour and human
trafficking have no place in a modern
society.
Supports and promotes the
protection of internationally
proclaimed human rights.
Ensures we are not complicit in
human rights abuses through our
business relationships and supply
chain management.
Social value and achievements
Achievements
What we achieved
Why it was important
What the benefits are
DWF became a signatory of the
Prompt Payment Code.
This means we commit to paying our
suppliers within terms and ensure
there is a proper process for dealing
with any issues that may arise.
We know that prompt payment is
critical to the cash flow of every
business (ours included) but
especially smaller businesses within
our supply chain.
We launched our second annual
Diversity Week to challenge our
people to think about their approach
to inclusion, and to identify what
they could do to help maintain a
diverse and inclusive workplace.
Promoted a diverse and inclusive
workplace.
Helped to consciously build diversity
awareness, capability and confidence
in leaders and line managers.
Evolved our diversity strategy to
engage everyone so not seen as a
minority issue. Diversity strands also
included mental health, parents,
carers and strong allies.
Engaged men and explored why
diversity should matter to them.
We achieved our highest ranking to
date in the Stonewall Top 100
Employers list (36th) which
showcases the best places to work
for lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) employees.
The only legal business to
successfully retain its 'Proud to
be Clear Assured' status.
The first legal business to achieve
Disability Confident Leadership
status.
Research continues to show
that diverse talent produces better
business results and stronger
innovation.
A visibly inclusive culture where our
people feel safe and comfortable
to be themselves and feel proud
to work at DWF.
Both reinforce our commitment
to inclusive recruitment by
identifying and removing barriers
to disabled talent.
Demonstrates our commitment to
recruit and retain the best available
talent operating in a diverse and
inclusive environment.
Both challenge attitudes and
understanding of disabilities and
accommodations in the workplace.
Closes the disability employment gap
and helps businesses become more
confident in employing and retaining
disabled people.
Reduction in CO2 emissions for our
UK offices:
Improving our environmental
performance and efficiency.
2014 – 6768 tonnes
2015 – 6210 tonnes
2016 – 5320 tonnes
Actively managing our carbon
emissions.
External auditing of our sustainability
performance.
2016 also saw a significant reduction
in travel emissions, down to 837
tonnes from 1015 tonnes in 2015.
Maintaining our recycling target
at 80%.
Ensuring 100% CFS sourced or
recycled paper.
Continuing ISO14001 certification in
the UK.
Responsible energy management
and engaged colleagues in taking
personal ownership of the agenda.
Maintaining our target of less than
3 tonnes CO2 per person per year.
The faster we act and the more we
do, the lower the impact of climate
change will be.
31
CSR Awards and Recognition
2016
2017
• Finalist Company of the Year in the European
Diversity Awards
• Successful reaccreditation for the continuing impact of our
School Partnerships at the Responsible Business Awards
• Finalist in the Community Contribution of the Year
category at the Scottish Legal Awards
• Gold Standard performance in The Law Society’s
D&I report, as a signatory to the D&I Charter
• Achieved Silver Standard on gender and race
equality validated by Business in the Community
(BITC)
• Bronze Standard in BITC’s Environment Index
• Eco Excellence Gold City Award (Preston)
• Finalist – Best Large Private Sector Employer in recognition
of our flexible and agile working policies and initiatives
awarded through Working Families Scotland
• Finalist – Best Innovation for Family Friendly Working
recognising DWF’s innovative approach to ensuring working
parents are supported whilst on leave and when back in the
office, awarded through Working Families Scotland
• Finalist in the Work in the Community category at the
Liverpool Law Society Legal Awards
• Bronze Award for payroll giving
• Finalist – Best Corporate Responsibility Award Inspiring
City Awards (Glasgow)
• Gold Standard in Diversity Best Practice - ENEI Awards
• Winner – Advancing Social Mobility in the Workplace
Award – ENEI Awards
• Winner – Equality and Inclusion Senior Champion Award
– ENEI Awards
• Gold Standard – Law Society Diversity and Inclusion Charter
CSR Awards and Recognition
33
9
DWF
Foundation
At DWF, we live and breathe our values through
our day-to-day actions and behaviours. The values
we share help to define and reinforce our culture
and the way we do things. Our values underpin
not only our culture, but they also set the future
course that we want to take as a business.
Our vision is to
encourage all our
people to work together
as a catalyst for change.
The launch of the DWF Foundation in
November 2015 marked a significant
step in our journey to develop a culture
of contribution.
One of DWF’s values is the belief that
we are ‘better together’ and it is our
opportunity for all our people to work
together to create something special.
It is also something that was increasingly
asked for by our clients, and the
Foundation aligns to our clients’ interests.
“When launching the Foundation, we made a promise
to make a difference and we have kept that promise,
creating something really special. Our vision as a
business has been to encourage all of our people to
work together to help raise funds to provide resources
and support to help local communities achieve their
full potential, so I am delighted our people have backed
the Foundation wholeheartedly and so many have got
involved with initiatives and activities so we have been
able to raise the amount we have and help so many
more local projects than we have been able to do before.”
Jim Davies, Co-Founder of DWF and Chair of the Trustees of the DWF Foundation.
As a registered charity, the DWF
Foundation was launched with the sole
aim of providing funds, resources and
support to help local communities
achieve their full potential with a focus on
education, employability, health and
well-being and homelessness.
Together we support charities and
projects that tackle specific community
issues, help voluntary and community
groups to become more effective and
efficient, encouraging involvement of
those too often excluded, and enabling
young people to develop skills for the
benefit of the community.
The Foundation builds on our existing
community activity in a focused and
strategic way and demonstrates that
when we all work together we can make
a significant, positive impact on the
communities in which we live and work.
In its first year, the DWF Foundation
raised more than £76,000 and supported
30 local charities around the UK.
Case Study: Working with the
Wood Street Mission
Manchester Children’s charity, Wood
Street Mission, used their grant for their
SmartStart initiative, which helps to
alleviate the effects of poverty on local
children and their families.
Roseanne Sweeney, Chief Executive of
Wood Street Mission children’s charity,
said: “Doing well at school is key to
breaking the cycle of poverty but many
families struggle to afford school costs
which means their children are less likely
to grow up to fulfil their potential.
SmartStart is our million pound initiative to
kit out all local children for school so they
fit in and want to achieve. This year,
thanks to the generosity of our supporters
including DWF, we were able to kit out
over 2,300 children in smart new uniforms
for the start of the school year and
distribute over £200,000 of school kit to
local families.”
35
10
Our
Purpose
Transforming legal services through
our people for our clients.
We believe that organisations worldwide
can benefit from connected support,
services and solutions that go beyond
conventions and expectations – and it’s
our purpose to develop and deliver
them together.
The business of law is changing and
Law Firms must deliver services more
efficiently in order to compete.
Technology can and will be an enabler.
However, this requires us to alter our
approach to clients’ issues and
requirements. It requires us to think
differently and implement commercial
solutions that solve problems that go
beyond our clients' issues, and solve
problems that they don't yet know
they have. This will be achieved
through connected thinking and
connected solutions.
Purpose leads to value:
Clients
Our clients range from FTSE 100 multinational
household names to private individuals, from both the
public and private sector. Our client base spans both
UK and international markets.
• We leverage technology to do more for our clients
• We connect our diverse knowledge and
experience to make a bigger impact.
Creating a true partnership and value for our
clients and for us:
• Investing time in building relationships; our clients
recognise the value of such an investment
• Working hand-in-hand with our clients to create
genuine insight and value for their business
• Such partnerships and commitment from our
clients provides long-term stability for our business
• Client-centricity drives our continuous
improvement.
We create value for our clients by understanding their
business and their markets and providing smart,
insightful legal advice and services which are aligned
to their commercial reality. Meeting our clients’ needs
is at the heart of everything we do including our
continuing drive to do things differently.
• We invest in relationships and take time to
understand our clients and their business
• We recognise the challenges faced by our clients
and develop bespoke solutions to meet these
challenges and needs
• We challenge ourselves to think differently to
support our clients in delivering on their objectives
• We engage our people who strive to deliver
excellence in everything they do
People
Our people include everyone who has a part to
play in delivering client service excellence on
behalf of DWF to our clients. We create value for
our people by offering fulfilling and rewarding
careers and continuing to invest in their
development and care about their well-being.
Our people can expect a supportive, diverse,
well-connected and inclusive environment.
• They can expect opportunities to apply their
strengths and further their careers.
We work together to create value:
• Our people invest their time and resources into
making our business a success
• They have skills, experience and knowledge that
drive continuous improvement
• They can expect to be empowered and encouraged
to deepen their skills, knowledge and expertise
• Their engagement with our business objectives
helps us build a sustainable business
• They can expect a manager who is helpful
• Their commitment helps build stability for our
and enabling
clients and colleagues.
• They can expect to be rewarded for going beyond
expectations, thinking differently and living our values
Communities
Our communities include those in which we live and
work. Those that touch the lives of our people day by
day. We create value for our communities by
recognising and acting upon the positive impact we
can have on current and future generations.
• We focus on transformational activities that we
believe have the most impact
• We collaborate and partner to build strong
communities
• We challenge our people to make a difference
through fundraising for the DWF Foundation and
volunteering
• We actively manage our carbon emissions
• We externally audit our sustainability performance.
Why we create value within our community:
• Trust and mutual respect builds community
diversity
• We actively support communities for the long term
• Enrichment for our people
• We apply our expertise to inspire confidence and
• Insight above and beyond our immediate market
develop employability skills
• A sustainable world for generations to come.
37
11
Governance
Good corporate governance enables us to create
sustainable value for the benefit of our clients,
our people and the communities in which we
live and work.
Our Risk Management and Governance
strategy follows the execution of the
wider business strategy, so we can
anticipate and identify the regulatory
outcomes and address them accordingly
to ensure compliance.
To achieve this we put policies in place
which provide mandatory ways of
working, backed by the DWF values
which provide a sense of common
direction for our people and guidelines
for their day-to-day behaviour.
Business improvement
is also central to our
Risk Management and
Governance strategy.
Those policies are monitored and tested
by an audit team who regularly undertake
assessments to ensure compliance.
Although not captured by the UK
Corporate Governance Code, going
forward, we will take note of the
Financial Reporting Council
Guidance on Risk Management.
Our changing approach
Over the last 12 months, we have seen
further growth and diversification. Risk
Management has to be seen as a
collaborative function across the business.
As the international footprint has grown,
so has the purpose of the function which
includes enhancing the governance
across the business. International
compliance has become ever more
important and has includes advising on
local regulations, embedding diversity and
introducing appropriate systems for
business assurance across the various
jurisdictions.
This year saw the addition of an International
Compliance Officer to the team.
39
Challenges this year
External factors
Whilst Cyber Risk is not yet seen as the
most significant risk Law Firms face, this
year we have witnessed sudden attacks
elsewhere and the detrimental effects
they pose meaning it is increasingly
being seen as a higher priority. There is
much written regarding Law Firms
remaining a natural choice for cyber
attacks due to the money involved and
nature of transactions being undertaken,
not forgetting the potentially valuable
sensitive data which requires protection.
Cyber attacks will naturally become more
sophisticated and it has become ever
more important for the Risk Management
and Information Security team in
educating our people about hacking,
phishing and data security awareness.
The team also manage
DWF’s insurance portfolio,
including Professional
Indemnity, EL/PL and
Management Liability
The SRA continue in their review of the
Handbook, regulatory approach and
Accounts Rules. Once released this will
undoubtedly create mandatory training
and guidance throughout the business.
Alongside this we have seen the
implementation of the new Money
Laundering, Terrorist Financing and
Transfer of Funds (Information on the
Payer) Regulations 2017 and await
the new European data protection
laws – known as General Data
Protection Regulation – requiring all
companies to introduce stricter controls
on data privacy.
Competitive advantage
We adapt to and embrace risk by taking a
commercial and intelligent approach. We
truly understand what our risks are which
gives us the insight and backing to make
timely decisions. This is essential to the
way we operate. As a business we
capitalise on opportunities and move
forward at a fast pace, none of which
would be possible without a solid
framework from which to operate.
We are happy with our level of risk
because we are confident in the controls
that we have put in place. Our Risk
Register, a traffic light-based monitoring
system, is continually updated so we
are always fully aware of the business’s
risk status.
Future
Although not captured by the UK Corporate
Governance Code, going forward, we will
take note of the Financial Reporting Council
Guidance on Risk Management, Internal
Control and Related Financial and Business
Reporting (FRC risk guidance). In summary,
the guidance requires that greater attention
needs to be paid to the risk management
process and profile, principal risks and
mitigation, strategy and risk appetite,
culture and reporting. To this end, following
a recent robust firm-wide risk assessment,
the Board will hold a discussion to
understand the findings of the risk
assessment and ensure risk management
is further embedded across the business.
Risk management
The team supports our business by
managing risk. Their responsibilities include
regulatory compliance, Anti-Money
Laundering and Data Protection.
Team Members liaise on behalf of the
business with our regulators in all
jurisdictions and are represented on the
Compliance and Risk Management
Committee (CRMC) and support it by
managing the risk register. The team also
manage DWF’s insurance portfolio,
including Professional Indemnity, EL/PL
and Management Liability.
Business excellence
The Business Excellence team provides
independent assurance for the
business. On a day-to-day basis they
conduct internal audits across DWF in
order to manage our external ISO
9001:2015 standard; and implement
business excellence activities to drive
continuous improvement.
Our ISO suite of standards has grown.
The team now also carry out internal
audits against the Information Security
Management standard of ISO
27001:2013 and the Environmental
Management standard of ISO 14001.
Deborah Abraham,
Director of Risk Management and Excellence.
Business Divisions
DWF LLP
Insurance
Services
Division
Commercial
Services
Division
Connected
Services
Division
International
Division
41
Driving our Business:
Strategic Board and Committees
Compliance and
Risk Management
Committee
Insurance
Operational
Board
Audit
Committee
Strategic
Board
Commercial
Operational
Board
Executive
Board
International
Steering
Committee
Remuneration
Committee
Diversity
Steering
Group
Engaging
People
Executive
Executive
Committee
Strategic Board
DWF’s Strategic Board consists of
individuals with wide-ranging relevant
backgrounds, experience, skills and
knowledge, resulting in a favourable
balance that enables the Board to
exercise its tasks and responsibilities,
whilst fully taking into account business
needs. Board Members gained their
business experience in a broad range
of industries which collectively include
financial services, accountancy, legal
and consultancy.
The objectives of our Strategic Board
are to:
• Develop and maintain vision, mission
and values
• Develop and drive strategic direction
• Establish and monitor policies and
governance
• Ensure governance compliance
• Ensure financial and regulatory accountability
• Maintain proper fiscal oversight
• Maintain effective Board and business
performance.
Alan Benzie
Chairman FY 16/17
Alan has been DWF’s Chairman since
2007; he helps drive and shape our strategic
development. Before his retirement from
KPMG in December 2003, Alan chaired its
Northern offices and sat on their UK Board.
Andrew
Leaitherland
Managing Partner and CEO
As Managing Partner and CEO, Andrew is
responsible for the overall strategic direction
of DWF. Since 2006, Andrew has overseen
major growth in revenue and people: from
£29m to £199.3m and from 560 to over
2,700 respectively.
Paul Berry
CEO, Insurance Services
Stephen Miles
CEO, Commercial Services
Before moving to a full-time management
role, Paul specialised in large and
catastrophic personal injury work for
insurers. He now manages the Insurance
Services Division which acts for a variety of
insurers, adjusters, brokers and corporate
clients on a wide range of insurance issues.
Stephen is responsible for driving forward the
Commercial Services Division, and for looking
at alternative ways to deliver growth and
increased profitability. Stephen has exceptional
legal and management credentials having led
Pinsent Masons’ Banking and Restructuring,
Financial Regulation, Employment and
Pensions practices in recent years.
Chris Stefani
Chief Financial Officer
David Gray
Non-Executive Director
Prior to joining DWF in 2016, Chris enjoyed a
17-year career with EY as Finance Director for
EMEIA Advisory, overseeing a $2.7bn business.
Chris oversees all of DWF’s financial operations
in the UK and internationally, with a focus on
enhancing revenue, improving profitability and
driving working capital management to support
the management of our growth.
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 M&A.
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.
Claire Bowler
Partner, Insurance
Services (Elected Member)
Claire was one of two founding partners
of DWF’s London office in 2008, and has
been proud of its growth from 13 people to
359 today. Claire sits on the Strategic Board
as the representative for the Insurance
Services Division, and was the first of two
women ever elected to DWF’s main Board.
Paul Rimmer
Partner, Corporate
Services (Elected Member)
Hilary Ross
Partner, Litigation
(Elected Member)
Helen Hill
Human Resources
Director
Paul is a Corporate Partner who has a wide
range of M&A experience particularly in the
Private Equity arena. Paul joined DWF in 2013
from an International Law Firm and was elected
to the Strategic Board in 2016. In Paul’s role as
Head of UK Locations, he is heavily involved in
driving the culture and values of the business.
Hilary leads DWF’s Retail, Food and
Hospitality sector which has been identified
as acting for more FTSE 100 retailers than
any other Law Firm in the UK. She also leads
the London office which is now fully agile.
She is consistently recognised as one of the
leading regulatory lawyers in the UK.
With over 20 years’ experience in generalist
HR positions, across multiple sectors, Helen
is focused on developing DWF’s HR team’s
contribution to business growth, performance
and profitability through aligning the team’s
strategic and operational goals to the overall
Group business plans.
43
Supporting Boards and Committees
Committee/Board and Purpose
Objectives
Committee:
Audit Committee (AC).
Meeting Frequency:
Minimum three times per year.
Purpose:
To oversee financial reporting and disclosure.
Committee:
Compliance and Risk Management Committee
(CRMC).
Meeting Frequency:
Monthly (exc. August, December, April).
Purpose:
To advise the Board on the identification,
coordination and prioritisation of risk management
issues throughout the business and to develop a
strategy for risk management.
Committee:
Engaging People Executive (EPE).
Meeting Frequency:
Bi-monthly.
Purpose:
To sponsor initiatives that inspire our people to
deliver our business strategy.
• To ensure that financial statements are understandable, transparent
and reliable
• To ensure the risk management process is comprehensive and
ongoing, rather than partial and periodic
• To help achieve an organisation-wide commitment to strong and
effective internal controls, emanating from the top
• To continually communicate with senior management
• To ensure the internal auditors’ access to the Audit Committee,
encouraging communication beyond scheduled committee meetings
• To review internal audit plans, reports and significant findings
• To establish a direct reporting relationship with the external auditors.
• To take an overview of the implementation of the risk and compliance
management strategy
• Review corporate policies relating to compliance with laws and regulations,
ethics, conflicts of interest, and the investigation of misconduct and fraud
• Review current and pending corporate governance-related litigation or
regulatory proceedings to which the business is a party
• To encourage and foster an awareness of risk management at all levels
in the business
• To identify new areas of potential risk to the business and to ensure that
the business’s systems of compliance are robust and fit for purpose in
an increasingly regulated environment
• To consider any risk and compliance matters that may arise from any
companies, limited liability partnerships or alternative business structures
in which the business may hold a proprietary or legal interest.
• To change attitudes and practices by promoting a clear dialogue with our
people to ensure they feel connected to, and interested in, our business so
that they can contribute fully
• To promote ownership of our people strategy across the business and
ensure initiatives and resources are aligned appropriately.
Committee/Board and Purpose
Objectives
Committee:
Executive Board
Meeting Frequency:
Monthly
Purpose:
Management of the business
Committee:
Executive Committee
Meeting Frequency:
Quarterly
Purpose:
A communication forum and reserved for decisions
on firm-wide matters
Committee:
Remuneration Committee
Meeting Frequency:
Bi-monthly
Purpose:
To manage all remuneration aspects of the business
including bonus scheme, promotions and pay review
Committee:
Diversity Steering Group (DSG)
Meeting Frequency:
Quarterly
Purpose:
To oversee and monitor the implementation of
DWF’s diversity strategy
Committee:
International Steering Committee
Meeting frequency:
Quarterly
Purpose:
To oversee, monitor and communicate international
strategy, direction and implementation
• Day-to-day/week-to-week operational management of the business
• Oversight of all operational aspects of the business.
• Ongoing operational and performance review of the business with a wider
constituency of leaders within the business
• To review and implement those operational aspects that will support
the business in its development.
• To ensure that we are rewarding all our key people competitively and
also responsively
• To ensure that we incentivise in the right way and consider quality elements
of service beyond simple target-driven philosophies.
• Create and maintain a more diverse and inclusive workplace and culture
• Operate within legislative, risk and best practice frameworks enabling DWF
to compete for business
• Meet the needs and expectations of our people throughout their
employment journey
• Meet the needs and expectations of clients through our delivery of
outstanding service
• Encourage our people, clients and suppliers to demonstrate ownership and
responsibility for diversity and inclusion
• Authenticate our values and brand image, ensuring dignity and respect is seen
and valued as an integral part of our culture and the way we do business.
• To support existing overseas offices as a priority
• To investigate opportunities driven by client need, taking into account
economic and political issues as well as practical matters
• To recommend strategy, advise the Board and drive implementation
• To sponsor issues and plans amongst the partnership (to include promoting
investments such as office openings)
• To communicate with the partnership and the business as a whole to
ensure that we are pursuing a strategy that is fit for purpose and supported
by all stakeholders
• Ambassadorial.
45
12
Financial
Review
Chris Stefani
“Our Litigation, Corporate
Services and Motor Fraud
teams in particular had very
healthy growth, so whilst
the overall results for UK
were impacted by events
in the first half, they mask
a very strong underlying
growth story.”
Planning for growth
A year of two halves in the UK
We set out in FY 16/17 with a relatively
ambitious UK growth budget which we
were aware would present challenges given
how competitive the UK market remains.
However, it was quickly derailed due to
the unexpected Brexit result which had
a very immediate impact on our
Commercial Services division, and our
Real Estate practice in particular. This
impact, together with the continued
challenges in the Insurance market
diluted the potential H1 growth we had
anticipated in the UK market.
However, in the second half of the
year, we saw a shift. Client demand
picked up and we recovered onto our
growth trajectory, ending the year with
a significant amount of momentum
and with growth in three of our six UK
Practice Groups and in our
international locations.
“This continued investment
will give us a ‘lateral
dividend’ in the years to
come and growth. They
are deliberate investments
that will give us a material
payback in the future.”
Maximising potential
Over the past few years we have worked
hard together to take a traditional Law Firm
model and turn it on its head, in line with
our strategy of doing things differently.
With our geographical expansion and the
creation of Connected Services, which
brings together complementary products
and services to our core legal offering, we
have laid the groundwork for a
step-change in our performance and
position in the market.
We already have seen in the final quarter
of FY 16/17 and the first quarter of FY
17/18 an indication of the potential for
additional revenue that our investments
are bringing.
“Our main priority for the
year ahead is to maximise
this latent potential in the
business via the acquisitions
we have made and the
carefully selected jurisdictions
we have expanded into. This
will allow us to achieve our
purpose of transforming legal
services through our people,
for our clients.”
Growth through M&A
Our strategy recognises that organic UK
growth is going to continue to be
challenging, so we have a significant
focus on M&A activity and we executed
four important deals:
1. We acquired niche Law Firm Fox
Hartley early in the year to strengthen
our insurance, litigation and product
liability capability and enhance our sector
expertise. It helped secure new
domestic and international insurer clients.
2. We merged with Belfast-based
commercial Law Firm C&H Jefferson
on 1 December 2016, one of the
largest legal practices in Northern
Ireland. This gave us an all-Ireland
capability which we view as critical for
the Ireland market and particularly
timely in light of Brexit.
3. We merged with Heenan Paris, an
established office in Paris with an
international outlook. With France
being one of Germany’s largest and
most significant trading partners, the
merger complemented our growing
European footprint.
4. Our Triton deal was one that happened
very quickly. We’re an opportunistic
business and saw great potential in
Triton. There was strong operational
synergy, given their footprint matched
ours, along with an opportunity to extend
our non-legal services in areas such as
loss adjusting and claims handling.
We are still in build mode in certain
practices and locations and FY 16/17 also
saw us make a number of strategic lateral
hires, in addition to the M&A activity.
Good revenue outturn
Our strong second half and M&A activity
has given us an encouraging revenue
outturn, seeing a 7% increase in revenue
compared to the previous year. In terms
of profitability, pricing remains a challenge
in the UK market and we absorbed
significant one-off M&A-related costs to
integrate the four businesses which joined
DWF during the year. We also continued
with lateral hire activity to build upon the
M&A investments, and this has led to a
profit outturn which, whilst ahead of PY,
has given a short term dip in PEP.
47
13
Financial
Reports
p49
Members’ Report
p51
Members’ Responsibilities Statement
p52
Independent Auditor’s Report
p53
Group Profit and Loss Account
Group Statement of Comprehensive Income p54
p55
Group and LLP Balance Sheet
p56
Statement of Changes in Members’ Interest
p58
Group Cash Flow Statement
p59
Notes to the Financial Statements
Members’ Report
Trading
Following continued investment in
international growth, DWF has
announced FY 16/17 global revenues
of £199.3m, a 7% increase from prior
year (£186.9m). PEP has stayed flat
year on year although the number of
Equity Partners has grown by 6% due
to acquisitions and lateral hires in the
year. DWF’s LLP UK revenues for
FY 16/17 are £183.3m, a £1.5m
increase from prior year despite a
competitive UK market and a surprise
result from the Brexit referendum
which impacted on real estate and
corporate transaction volumes.
International expansion and merger
activity continues to drive additional
growth with 4 significant mergers in
the year:
On 1 May 2016 DWF merged with
Fox Hartley, a Bristol based Law Firm
specialising in litigation and alternative
dispute resolution services for major
insurer and manufacturer clients. The
Firm acts for UK and global insurers, in
relation to catastrophic injury, aviation
claims, property damage, business
interruption, policy wording disputes
and the development of new
products. The merger will support
DWF’s growing focus on the Lloyd’s
insurance market and enhance the
Firm’s delivery of high value
commercial litigation work
On 1 December 2016 DWF merged
with C&H Jefferson, one of the largest
legal practices in Northern Ireland giving
full coverage of Ireland – a key strategic
move following the Brexit result.
On 1 January 2017 DWF merged
with Parisian Firm, Heenan Paris, who
have an international focus with client
presence in Africa. France is one of
the key trading relationships with
Germany, giving DWF a strong
European footprint.
On 24 January 2017 DWF acquired
Triton Global (a distressed purchase/
pre-pack administration) who, whilst
being predominantly UK based, have
also added international non-legal
capability in Canada, USA, Australia
and Ireland. Their UK office footprint
matched that of DWF and as such
offered immediate, and material,
operational efficiencies.
Existing international locations have
continued to grow with a new office
being opened in Berlin allowing DWF
to enhance its offering in Germany,
particularly in the financial services
sector where the Firm has a particular
specialism in fintech.
Events after balance sheet date
On 1 July 2017 DWF opened an office
in Singapore with 2 new Partners to
specifically meet the growing demand
from our clients across the ASEAN
region. The team will be working
primarily in Litigation and Arbitration
whilst acting as a regional springboard
for two of our key sectors – Financial
Services and Insurance.
On 16 October 2017 DWF opened an
Italian office based in Milan with 4 new
Partners and a supporting team of 12
lawyers. The team bring expertise in
delivering complex corporate, finance,
tax and ligation advice on matters
arising from domestic and international
M&A and private equity activity.
Expansion in to Italy will strengthen
DWF’s offering in continental Europe
whilst building on the expertise of the
existing sector focus.
On 1 May 2017 DWF launched a new
specialist business division called
Connected Services. Connected
Services consolidates all non-legal,
non-regulated services under one roof
to offer a set of complementary and
specialist business solutions, as well as
consultative services and products, that
sit alongside DWF’s core legal offering.
Launched in response to growing
demand from the business’s clients,
the new business division will see
DWF diversify its offering and expand
its remit into research & development,
technology incubation and the creation
of a suite of commercially-focused
business solutions.
DWF made 36 lateral partner hires in
the UK in FY 16/17 (FY15/16: 24)
and now employs approximately
2,700 people across 25 locations,
11 countries and 4 continents.
Funding
The LLP is funded by a combination
of fixed capital, retained current
accounts of our members, and
external borrowings. At year end 30
April 2017, the external borrowings
comprised a revolving credit facility
(“RCF”), overdraft and term loans, the
RCF being committed until July 2018.
As the RCF is committed to July 2018
the Firm intends to refinance before
that date. The firm has held
discussions with its banks about its
future borrowing requirements and
has received credit committee
approval with no conditions precedent
from the banks of their intention to
make available new funding which
will be a combination of a revolving
credit facility, overdraft and term loans.
The new RCF will be committed for
3 years through to 2021. The LLP
continues to place significant
emphasis on optimising lockup
management to reduce borrowing
costs and to increase funds for
working capital requirements.
For details regarding the firm as a
going concern, please refer to note
one within notes to the accounts.
Financial outlook
Our net profit performance is strong
given the investments made in people
and infrastructure to build a sustainable
legal business which is equipped to
cope with a fast-changing marketplace.
The focus over the last 3 years has very
much been on driving growth whilst
also investing in post-merger
integration to ensure that our people
are operating on a common platform in
“the DWF way”.
49
Members’ Report
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 Fixed Share Members is fixed at a
standard rate, in line with 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 the 2nd February 2018 and signed
on behalf of the Board.
A.R. Leaitherland
We expect the pace of growth to
continue, but for the profit trajectory
to increase materially as merger
synergies are realised through our
dedicated Business Change team.
We continue to be confident that these
substantial investments in our
infrastructure, in our people, and our
technology platforms will put us in an
increasingly strong position for the future.
Principal activity
The principal activity of DWF LLP is the
provision of Legal Services globally.
Charitable donations
During the year, DWF made charitable
donations totalling £10,000 to a variety
of charities (2016: £5,000). In
December 2015 DWF created a
charitable Foundation to provide
funds, resources and support to local
charities and projects. In FY 16/17,
the DWF Foundation donated £91,000
(2016: £7,000).
Designated Members
The following Members served as
Designated Members throughout the
year and at the date of this report: AR
Leaitherland, PA Berry, IJ Slater
(resigned 24 November 2016), AG
Peacock (resigned 18 January 2017)
and JDL Edwards (resigned 24
November 2016), Claire Bowler
(appointed 24 November 2016), Hilary
Ross (appointed 24 November 2016),
Paul Rimmer (appointed 24 November
2016) and Stephen Miles (appointed
18 January 2017).
The Board
The Board compromises the
Designated Members together
with a Non-Executive Chairman,
Alan Benzie, a further Non-Executive
Director, David Gray, and Chief
People Officer, Catherine Williams
(resigned 31 July 2017).
Members’ drawings and capital
policy
The Members’ policy on drawings
is determined by the Board.
Members’ Responsibilities 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),
including FRS 102 “The Financial
Reporting Standard applicable in the
UK and Republic of Ireland”.
The Members are responsible
for keeping adequate accounting
records that disclose with
reasonable accuracy at any time
the financial position of the Limited
Liability Partnership and enable
them to ensure that the financial
statements comply with the
Companies Act 2006, as applicable
to Limited Liability Partnerships,
and in accordance with the
requirements of the Statement of
Recommended Practice Accounting
by Limited Liability Partnership
(issued July 2014).
They are also responsible for
safeguarding the assets of the
Limited Liability Partnership and
hence for taking reasonable steps
for the prevention and detection of
fraud and other irregularities. These
responsibilities are exercised by the
Board on behalf of the Members.
Under Company law as applied
to Limited Liability Partnerships,
the Members must not approve
the financial statements unless
they are satisfied that they give a
true and fair view of the state of
affairs of the Group and Limited
Liability Partnership and of the
profit or loss of the Group for that
year. In preparing these financial
statements, the Members are
required to:
• select suitable accounting policies
and then apply them consistently;
• make judgements and accounting
estimates that are reasonable
and prudent;
• 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 Partnership
will continue in business.
51
Independent Auditor’s Report
We have audited the financial statements of DWF LLP for the year ended 30 April 2017 which comprise the Group
Profit and Loss Account, Group Statement of Comprehensive Income, the Group and Parent LLP Statement of
Changes in Members Interest, the Group and Parent LLP Balance Sheets, the Group Cash Flow Statement and the
related notes 1 to 19. 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), including FRS
102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland”.
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. 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 Members as a body, for our audit work, for this
report, or for the opinions we have formed.
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 Limited Liability Partnership’s
circumstances and have been
consistently applied and adequately
disclosed; the reasonableness of
significant accounting estimates made
by the 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.
Opinion on financial statements
In our opinion the financial statements:
• give a true and fair view of the state
of the Group and Limited Liability
Partnership’s affairs as at 30 April
2017 and of the Group profit for the
year then ended;
• have been properly prepared in
accordance with United Kingdom
Generally Accepted Accounting
Practice; and
• 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 requires us to
report to you if, in our opinion:
• adequate accounting records have
not been kept, or returns adequate for
our audit have not been received from
branches not visited by us; or
• the 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.
Heather J Cosby BSc ACA
(Senior Statutory Auditor)
for and on behalf of Deloitte LLP
Statutory Auditor
Manchester, United Kingdom
2nd February 2018
Group Profit and Loss Account
Year ended 30 April 2017
Note
2017
£’000
2016
£’000
Turnover of existing operations
190,198
185,880
Turnover of acquired operations
9,124
970
Turnover
Other operating income
Staff costs
Depreciation
Amortisation of intangibles
Other operating expenses
Operating profit of existing operations
Operating profit of acquired operations
Operating profit
Interest payable
Profit before taxation and Members’ remuneration
and profit shares
Tax on profit of the subsidiaries
Profit before Members’ remuneration
and profit shares
Members’ remuneration charged as an expense
Profit for the financial year available for discretionary
division among Members
2
3
4
5
6
7
199,322
186,850
291
312
(98,569)
(85,322)
(5,713)
(6,054)
442
(266)
(52,218)
(49,944)
42,349
45,177
1,206
43,555
(1,191)
399
45,576
(1,137)
42,364
44,439
(37)
(898)
42,327
43,541
(23,025)
(23,169)
19,302
20,372
All results relate to continuing activities.
53
Group Statement of Comprehensive
Income Year ended 30 April 2017
Profit for the financial year available for discretionary division among Members
19,302
20,372
Exchange gains/(losses) on translation of foreign operations
221
(159)
Total comprehensive income available for discretionary division among Members
19,523
20,213
2017
£’000
2016
£’000
Group and LLP Balance Sheet
as at 30 April 2017
Fixed assets
Goodwill
Negative goodwill
Goodwill - net balance
Other intangible assets
Tangible assets
Group
2017
£‘000
1,082
(391)
691
974
Group
2016
£‘000
314
-
314
601
LLP
2017
£‘000
220
-
220
316
LLP
2016
£‘000
67
-
67
30
16,286
17,555
15,310
17,445
Note
8
8
8
9
Investments
10
254
-
1,211
423
18,205
18,470
17,057
17,965
Current assets
Debtors
12
120,634
101,050
113,865
101,828
Cash at bank and in hand
3,327
9,976
1,952
8,800
123,961
111,026
115,817
110,628
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
13
(50,972)
(40,796)
(50,328)
(45,391)
Net current assets
72,989
70,230
65,489
65,237
Total assets less current liabilities
91,194
88,700
82,546
83,202
Creditors: amounts falling due after more
than one year
14
(49,097)
(50,805)
(48,779)
(50,805)
Net assets attributable to Members
42,097
37,895
33,767
32,397
Represented by:
Loans and other debts due to Members within
one year
Members’ capital classified as a liability
25,193
24,071
23,582
23,437
Other amounts
5,318
5,892
363
2,217
30,511
29,963
23,945
25,654
Members’ other interests
Other reserves classified as equity
Total Members’ interests
11,856
42,097
7,932
9,822
6,743
37,895
33,767
32,397
The LLP has taken advantage of Section 408 of the Companies House Act 2006, as applied to Limited Liability Partnerships (Accounts
and Audit) (Application of Companies House Act 2006) Regulations 2008 and has not included its own profit and loss in these financial
statements. Its own profit for the year available for discretionary division among Members was £17,656,000 (2016: £17,444,000).
The financial statements of DWF LLP (registered number OC328794) were approved by the Board on 2nd February 2018.
They were signed on its behalf by:
A. R. Leaitherland
Designated Member
55
Statement of Changes in Members’ Interests
Year ended 30 April 2017
Group FY15-16
Other reserves
£’000
Members’ Capital
classified as
Debt £’000
Other amounts
£’000
Total
£’000
Total Members’
interests
£’000
Loans and other debts due to Members
4,616
25,932
10,909
36,841
41,457
Members’ interests as at
1 May 2015
Consolidated profit for the financial year
available for discretionary division
among Members
Members’ remuneration charged as an
expense
Members’ interests after profits for
the year
Unrealised foreign exchange translation
difference
Introduced by Members
Repayments of capital
Drawings
Members’ interests as at
30 April 2016
Amounts due to Members
20,372
-
-
-
-
-
Allocation of profit
(17,056)
7,932
25,932
-
-
-
-
-
20,372
23,169
17,056
51,134
23,169
17,056
77,066
23,169
-
84,998
-
(159)
(159)
(159)
2,975
(4,836)
-
-
-
(45,083)
7,932
7,932
24,071
24,071
5,892
5,892
2,975
(4,836)
(45,083)
29,963
29,963
2,975
(4,836)
(45,083)
37,895
37,895
Group FY16-17
Other reserves
£’000
Members’ Capital
classified as
Debt £’000
Other amounts
£’000
Total
£’000
Total Members’
interests
£’000
Loans and other debts due to Members
7,932
24,071
5,892
29,963
37,895
Members’ interests as at
1 May 2016
Consolidated profit for the financial
year available for discretionary division
among Members
Members’ remuneration charged
as an expense
19,302
-
Allocation of profit
(15,424)
-
-
-
-
-
19,302
23,025
23,025
23,025
15,424
15,424
-
Members’ interests after profit for
the year
Unrealised foreign exchange
translation difference
Other amounts as a result of acquistions
Introduced by Members
Repayments of capital
Drawings
Members’ interests as at
30 April 2017
Amounts due to Members
11,810
24,071
44,341
68,412
80,222
221
(445)
-
-
-
11,586
11,586
-
-
3,996
(2,874)
-
-
-
-
-
(39,023)
25,193
25,193
5,318
5,318
-
-
3,996
(2,874)
(39,023)
30,511
30,511
221
(445)
3,996
(2,874)
(39,023)
42,097
42,097
Statement of Changes in Members’ Interests
Year ended 30 April 2017 (continued)
LLP FY15-16
Other reserves
£’000
Members’ Capital
classified as
Debt £’000
Other amounts
£’000
Total
£’000
Total Members’
interests
£’000
Loans and other debts due to Members
2,401
25,932
9,940
35,872
38,273
Members’ interests as at
1 May 2015
LLP profit for the financial year
available for discretionary division
amongst Members
Members’ remuneration charged
as an expense
17,444
-
Allocation of profit
(13,102)
-
-
-
-
-
17,444
23,004
23,004
13,102
13,102
23,004
-
Members’ interests after profit for
the year
Introduced by Members
Repayments of capital
Drawings
Members’ interests as at 30 April
2016
Amounts due to Members
6,743
25,932
46,046
71,978
78,721
-
-
-
6,743
6,743
2,108
(4,603)
-
-
2,108
(4,603)
-
(43,829)
(43,829)
2,108
(4,603)
(43,829)
23,437
23,437
2,217
2,217
25,654
32,397
25,654
32,397
LLP FY16-17
Other reserves
£’000
Members’ Capital
classified as
Debt £’000
Other amounts
£’000
Total
£’000
Total Members’
interests
£’000
Loans and other debts due to Members
6,743
23,437
2,217
25,654
32,397
Members’ interests as at
1 May 2016
LLP profit for the financial year available
for discretionary division among
Members
Members’ remuneration charged
as an expense
Other
Allocation of profit
Members’ interests after profit for
the year
Introduced by Members
Repayments of capital
Drawings
Members’ interests as at
30 April 2017
Amounts due to Members
17,656
-
(570)
(14,007)
9,822
-
-
-
9,822
9,822
-
-
-
-
23,437
3,019
(2,874)
-
14,007
37,065
-
-
-
(36,702)
23,582
23,582
363
363
-
-
17,656
20,841
20,841
20,841
-
14,007
60,502
3,019
(2,874)
(36,702)
23,945
23,945
(570)
-
70,324
3,019
(2,874)
(36,702)
33,767
33,767
57
Group Cash Flow Statement
Year ended 30 April 2017
Net cash inflow from operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities
Note
18
2017
£’000
2016
£’000
39,645
51,852
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
(3,501)
(2,790)
Purchase of intangible assets
Acquisition of investment
Net cash acquired with subsidiary
(279)
(2,817)
211
(234)
(480)
115
Net cash flows from investing activities
(6,386)
(3,389)
Cash flows from financing activities
Repayment of borrowings
Repayment of obligations under finance lease
New bank loans raised
(134)
(395)
-
(21,216)
(455)
39,709
Payments to or on behalf of the Members
(39,023)
(45,083)
Capital contributions by Members
Repayments to former Members
Interest paid
3,537
(2,874)
(1,240)
2,560
(4,836)
(1,137)
Net cash flows from financing activities
(40,129)
(30,458)
Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents
(6,870)
18,005
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year
Effect of foreign exchange rate changes
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year
Reconciliation to cash at bank and in hand
Cash at bank
Cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents
9,976
221
3,327
(7,870)
(159)
9,976
3,327
9,976
-
-
3,327
9,976
Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2017
1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The principal accounting policies are
summarised below. They have all been
applied consistently throughout the year
and to the preceding year.
on the going concern basis. The LLP meets its
funding requirement through the subscription
of capital by its Members, an overdraft facility
which is renewed annually and a Revolving
Credit Facility committed to July 2018.
General information and basis of
accounting
The LLP is incorporated in England and Wales
under the Limited Liability Partnership Act
2000. The address of the registered office is
given on page 74. The nature of the Group’s
operations and its principal activities are set
out in the Members’ Report on page 49.
The financial statements have been prepared
under the historical cost convention, modified
to include certain items at fair value, and in
accordance with Financial Reporting Standard
102 (FRS 102) issued by the Financial
Reporting Council and the requirements of
the Statement of Recommended Practice
Accounting by Limited Liability Partnerships
(issued July 2014).
The functional currency of the LLP is
considered to be pounds sterling because
that is the currency of the primary economic
environment in which the LLP operates.
The Group financial statements are also
presented in pounds sterling. Foreign
operations are included in accordance with
the policies set out below.
The LLP meets the definition of a qualifying
entity under FRS 102 and has therefore
taken advantage of the disclosure
exemptions available to it in respect of its
separate financial statements, which are
presented alongside the Group financial
statements. Exemptions have been taken
in relation to financial instruments,
intra-group transactions, remuneration
of key management personnel and cash
flow statement.
Basis of consolidation
The Group financial statements consolidate
the financial statements of the LLP 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.
Business combinations are accounted
for under the purchase method. Where
necessary, adjustments are made to the
financial statements of subsidiaries to
bring the accounting policies used into line
with those used by the Group. All intra-
group transactions, balances, income and
expenses are eliminated on consolidation.
In accordance with Section 35 of FRS 102,
Section 19 of FRS 102 has not been applied
in these financial statements in respect of
business combinations affected prior to the
date of transition.
Going concern
These financial statements have been prepared
Subsequent to year end the firm has held
discussions with its banks about its future
borrowing requirements and whilst formal
bank facility documentation has not been
completed, it has received credit committee
approval with no conditions precedent from
the banks of their intention to make available
new facilities, with documentation due to
be completed in February 2018. This newly
agreed funding will also be a combination of
a revolving credit facility, overdraft and term
loans. It will be committed for 3 years through
to 2021, giving a stable funding platform from
which the LLP will deliver its strategy and
growth plans during that period.
Having reviewed the LLP’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.
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 off on a
straight line basis over its useful economic
life, which is 5 years. Provision is made for
any impairment.
Intangible assets – negative goodwill
Negative goodwill on the acquisition of
subsidiary undertakings and businesses,
representing any excess of the fair value of
the identifiable assets and liabilities acquired
over the fair value of the consideration
paid, is released to the profit and loss in
the periods in which non-monetary assets
acquired are recovered.
Intangible assets – other
Separately acquired or developed software
is included at the cost and amortised in
equal annual instalments over the estimated
useful economic life. Provision is made
for any impairment. Intangible assets
acquired as part of a business combination
are measured at fair value at the acquisition
date. Subsequently these are amortised in
equal annual instalments over their estimated
useful economic life. 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, of each asset over
its expected useful life, as follows:
Leasehold
improvements
Fitting out costs
Fixtures and
fittings
Computer
equipment
Office equipment
Term of lease
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
Residual value represents the estimated
amount which would currently be obtained
from disposal of an asset, after deducting
estimated costs of disposal, if the asset
were already of the age and in the condition
expected at the end of its useful life.
Financial instruments
Financial assets and financial liabilities are
recognised when the Group becomes a
party to the contractual provisions of the
instrument.
Financial liabilities and equity instruments
are classified according to the substance of
the contractual arrangements entered into.
An equity instrument is any contract that
evidences a residual interest in the assets of
the Group after deducting all of its liabilities.
All financial assets and liabilities are initially
measured at transaction price (including
transaction costs), except for those financial
assets classified as at fair value through
profit or loss, which are initially measured at
fair value (which is normally the transaction
costs), unless the arrangement constitutes
a financing transaction. If an arrangement
constitutes a finance transaction, the
financial asset or financial liability is
measured at the present value of the future
payments discounted at a market rate of
interest for a similar debt instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are only offset
in the balance sheet when, and only when
there exists a legally enforceable right to set
off the recognised amounts and the Group
intends either to settle on a net basis, or
to realise the asset and settle the liability
simultaneously.
Debt instruments which meet the
following conditions are subsequently
measured at amortised cost using the
effective interest method:
59
Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2017 (continued)
Financial assets
For financial assets carried at amortised cost,
the amount of an impairment is the difference
between the asset’s carrying amount and the
present value of estimated future cash flows,
discounted at the financial asset’s original
effective interest rate, where this effect is
deemed material.
For financial assets carried at cost less
impairment, the impairment loss is the
difference between the asset’s carrying
amount and the best estimate of the amount
that would be received for the asset if it were
to be sold at the reporting date.
Where indicators exist for a decrease in
impairment loss, and the decrease can be
related objectively to an event occurring
after the impairment was recognised, the
prior impairment loss is tested to determine
reversal. An impairment loss is reversed on
an individual impaired financial asset to the
extent that the revised recoverable value does
not lead to a revised carrying amount higher
than the carrying value had no impairment
been recognised.
Taxation
The taxation payable on the LLP profits is the
personal liability of the Members, although
payment of such liabilities is administered
by the LLP on behalf of the Members.
Consequently, neither LLP taxation nor related
deferred taxation are accounted for in the
financial statements.
The tax expense represents the sum of
the current and deferred tax relating to the
corporate subsidiaries. The current tax expense
is based on taxable profits of these companies.
Current tax, including UK corporation tax and
foreign tax, is provided at amounts expected to
be paid (or recovered) using the tax rates and
laws that have been enacted or substantively
enacted by the balance sheet date.
Current tax assets and liabilities are offset
only when there is a legally enforceable right
to set off the amounts and the Group intends
either to settle on a net basis or to realise the
asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES
(continued)
(a) The contractual return to the holder is (i) a
fixed amount; (ii) a positive fixed rate or a
positive variable rate; or (iii) a combination
of a positive or a negative fixed rate and a
positive variable rate.
(b) The contract may provide for repayments
of the principal or the return to the holder
(but not both) to be linked to a single
relevant observable index of the general
price inflation of the currency in which the
debt instrument is denominated, provided
such links are not leveraged.
(c) The contract may provide for a
determinable variation of the return to the
holder during the life of the instrument,
provided that (i) the new rate satisfies
condition (a) and the variation is not
contingent on future events other than
(1) a change of a contractual variable rate;
(2) to protect the holder against credit
deterioration of the issuer; (3) changes in
levies applied by a central bank or arising
from changes in relevant taxation or law;
or (ii) the new rate is a market rate of
interest and satisfies condition (a).
(d) There is no contractual provision that
could, by its terms, result in the holder
losing the principal amount or any interest
attributable to the current period or prior
periods.
(e) Contractual provisions that permit the
issuer to prepay a debt instrument or
permit the holder to put it back to the
issuer before maturity are not contingent
on future events, other than to protect the
holder against the credit deterioration of
the issuer or a change in levies applied by
a central bank or arising from changes in
relevant taxation or law.
(f) Contractual provisions may permit
the extension of the term of the debt
instrument, provided that the return to the
holder and any other contractual provisions
applicable during the extended term satisfy
the conditions of paragraphs (a) to (c).
Debt instruments that are classified as payable
or receivable within one year on initial recognition
and which meet the above conditions are
measured at the undiscounted amount of the
cash or other consideration expected to be paid
or received, net of impairment.
Financial assets are derecognised when and
only when a) the contractual rights to the
cash flows from the financial asset expire or
are settled, b) the Group transfers to another
party substantially all of the risks and rewards
of ownership of the financial asset, or c)
the Group, despite having retained some
significant risks and rewards of ownership,
has transferred control of the asset to another
party and the other party has the practical
ability to sell the asset in its entirety to an
unrelated third party and is able to exercise
that ability unilaterally and without needing to
impose additional restrictions on the transfer.
Financial liabilities are derecognised only
when the obligation specified in the contract
is discharged, cancelled or expires.
(i) Investments
In the LLP balance sheet, investments in
subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates are
measured at cost less provision for impairment.
Investments in ordinary shares (where
shares are publicly traded or their fair value
is reliably measurable) are measured at fair
value through profit or loss. Where fair value
cannot be measured reliably, investments are
measured at cost less impairment.
(ii) Fair value measurement
The best evidence of fair value is a quoted
price for an identical asset in an active market.
When quoted prices are unavailable, the
price of a recent transaction for an identical
asset provides evidence of fair value as long
as there has not been a significant change in
economic circumstances or a significant lapse
of time since the transaction took place. If the
market is not active and recent transactions
of an identical asset on their own are not a
good estimate of fair value, the fair value is
estimated by using a valuation technique.
Impairment of assets
Assets, other than those measured at
fair value, are assessed for indicators of
impairment at each balance sheet date. If
there is objective evidence of impairment, an
impairment loss is recognised in profit
or loss as described below.
Non-financial assets
An asset is impaired where there is objective
evidence that, as a result of one or more
events that occurred after initial recognition, the
estimated recoverable value of the asset has
been reduced. The recoverable amount of an
asset is the higher of its fair value less costs to
sell and its value in use.
The recoverable amount of goodwill is derived
from measurement of the present value of
the future cash flows of the cash-generating
units (CGUs) of which the goodwill is a part.
Any impairment loss in respect of a CGU is
allocated first to the goodwill attached to that
CGU, and then to other assets within that CGU
on a pro-rata basis.
Where indicators exist for a decrease in
impairment loss, the prior impairment loss is
tested to determine reversal. An impairment
loss is reversed on an individual impaired asset
to the extent that the revised recoverable
value does not lead to a revised carrying
amount higher than the carrying value had no
impairment been recognised. Where a reversal
of impairment occurs in respect of a CGU, the
reversal is applied first to the assets (other than
goodwill) of the CGU on a pro-rata basis and
then to any goodwill allocated to that CGU.
Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2017 (continued)
Members’ interests
Members’ capital is repayable on retirement of the
Member and is therefore classified as a liability.
Because Members may retire with less than one
year’s notice and typically have their capital repaid
within one year of serving notice, Members’ capital
is shown as being due within one year.
Amounts in ‘Loans and other debts due to
Members’ (other than Members’ capital
classified as a liability) would rank pari passu
with other creditors who are unsecured in
the event of a winding up. No restrictions or
limitations exist on the ability of the Members to
reduce the amount of Members’ other interests.
Divisible profits and Members’
remuneration
Members’ monthly drawings on account of financial
year 2016 - 2017 profits are treated as automatically
allocated as drawn and are treated as Members’
remuneration charged as an expense to the profit
and loss account in arriving at profit available for
discretionary division among Members.
The remainder of profit shares, which have
not been allocated until after the balance sheet
date, are treated in these financial statements
as unallocated at the balance sheet date and
included within other reserves.
Revenue recognition and amounts
recoverable from clients in respect of
unbilled work performed
Unbilled fee income is included as unbilled
revenue within debtors. Provision is made
against unbilled amounts on those engagements
where the right to receive payment is contingent
on factors outside the control of the Group.
Income on such contingent engagements is
generally recognised when the contingent event
is successful.
Foreign currency
Transactions in foreign currencies are recorded
at the rate of exchange at the date of the
transaction. Monetary assets and liabilities
denominated in foreign currencies at the balance
sheet date are reported at the rates of exchange
prevailing at that date.
The results of overseas operations are translated
at the average rates of exchange during the period
and their balance sheets at the rates ruling at the
balance sheet date. Exchange differences arising
on translation of the opening net assets and
results of overseas operations are reported in other
comprehensive income and accumulated in equity.
Other exchange differences are recognised in
profit or loss in the period in which they arise
except for:
• exchange differences arising on gains
or losses on non-monetary items which
are recognised in other comprehensive
income; and
• in the case of the consolidated financial
statements, exchange differences on monetary
items receivable from or payable to a foreign
operation for which settlement is neither planned
nor likely to occur (therefore forming part of the
net investment in the foreign operation), which
are recognised in other comprehensive income
and reported under equity.
Leases
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.
Benefits received and receivable as an incentive
to sign an operating lease are similarly spread on
a straight-line basis over the lease term.
Provisions
Provision is made for the best estimate of
expected losses from onerous contracts; in
particular, in respect of surplus property.
Provisions are recognised when the Group
has a present obligation (legal or constructive)
as a result of a past event, it is probable
that the Group will be required to settle that
obligation and a reliable estimate can be made
of the amount of the obligation. The amount
recognised as a provision is the best estimate of
the consideration required to settle the present
obligation at the balance sheet date, taking into
account the risks and uncertainties surrounding
the obligation. Where a provision is measured
using the cash flows estimated to settle the
present obligation, its carrying amount is the
present value of those cash flows (when the
effect of the time value of money is material).
Pension costs
The Group makes contributions to the personal
pension scheme of its employees. The pension
costs are charged directly to the profit and loss
account in the year in which they occur.
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 accrual basis in the profit
and 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.
Critical accounting judgements and key
sources of estimation uncertainty
In the application of the LLP’s accounting
policies, the Members are required to make
judgements, estimates and assumptions about
the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities
that are not readily apparent from other sources.
The estimates and associated assumptions are
based on historical experience and other factors
that are considered to be relevant. Actual results
may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions
are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions
to accounting estimates are recognised in the
period in which the estimate is revised if the
revision affects only that period, or in the period
of the revision and future periods if the revision
affects both current and future periods.
Unbilled revenue/revenue recognition
The valuation of unbilled revenue involves
significant judgement, and affects the amount
of revenue recognised. The valuation is based
on an estimate of the amount expected to be
recoverable from clients on unbilled items based
on such factors as time spent, the expertise and
skills provided and expenses incurred. Provision is
made for such factors as historical recoverability
rates, contingencies, agreements with clients,
and potential credit earners, finance and clients.
In assessing whether unbilled time is recognised
as work in progress at cost or as unbilled revenue,
management are required to make judgements in
determining the point at which the contingency is
resolved and when the fair value of consideration
can be measured reliably.
Management are also required to assess the
expected net realisable value on certain cases by
reference to the outcomes of previous matters,
which is also considered to be a key source of
estimation uncertainty.
Key source of estimation uncertainty
Impairment of goodwill and other receivables
Determining whether goodwill and other
assets are impaired requires an estimation of
the value in use of the cash-generating units to
which goodwill has been allocated. The value in
use calculation requires the entity to estimate
the future cash flows expected to arise from
the cash-generating unit and a suitable discount
rate in order to calculate present value.
Disbursement provisioning
Where possible provisions for irrecoverable
disbursements are identified by fee earners
on a case by case basis. However, certain
areas require a provision to be calculated on
a percentage basis. This is considered to be
a key source of estimation uncertainty due to
the materiality of the figures involved.
Trade debtors provision
The valuation of amounts recoverable and
not recoverable on trade debtors involves
significant judgement. The estimation of
provisions is established based on interactions
between finance, the fee earner and clients,
mindful of the specific circumstances of
clients and individual matters and invoices, and
guided by calculation rules applied to the aged
population of all trade debtors (excluding those
already addressed by more specific provision).
Intercompany indebtedness and recovery
Management reviews the outlook for each
International office and their current trading
trajectory to ensure that the loans outstanding
can be recovered by the entity.
Professional indemnity insurance claims
The valuation of the probable exposure on the
uninsured portion of professional indemnity
claims also involves significant judgement.
The valuation takes into account known claims
and circumstances to the extent that the Firm
will be required to commit its excess. The
resulting reserves are regularly reviewed but
claims are an area of inherent uncertainty.
61
Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2017 (continued)
2. TURNOVER
Turnover is derived from the provision of Legal Services in the UK, Europe, Asia, Australia and North America and is stated net of disbursements
and value added tax.
The Members consider that disclosure of turnover analysed geographically and by industry sector would be prejudical to the business.
3. STAFF COSTS
The average monthly number of employees (excluding Members)
Legal advisers
Support staff
2017
No.
1,394
807
2,201
£’000
2016
No.
1,267
770
2,037
£’000
Aggregate remuneration comprised
Wages and salaries
87,134
75,131
Social security costs
Pension costs
8,685
2,750
7,985
2,206
Total staff costs
98,569
85,322
Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2017 (continued)
4. OPERATING PROFIT
Note
2017
£’000
2016
£’000
Operating profit is stated after charging/(crediting)
9
8
8
8
Depreciation of tangible assets
Amortisation of intangible assets
Amortisation of goodwill
Amortisation of negative goodwill
Foreign exchange loss
Rentals under operating leases
Land and buildings
Other leases
The analysis of the auditor’s remuneration is as follows:
Fees payable to DWF LLP’s auditor and its associates for the audit
of the Limited Liability Partnership’s annual accounts
Fees payable to DWF LLP’s auditor and its associates for other
services to the Group
The audit of DWF LLP’s subsidiaries
Total audit fees
Other assurance services
Tax compliance services
Other services
Total non-audit fees
5,713
6,054
206
234
(882)
361
9,356
691
94
38
132
8
64
133
205
127
139
-
17
8,805
984
55
25
80
9
45
50
104
Other services include reporting under the Solicitors’ Accounts Rules 1998 (since 6 October 2011 - SRA Account Rules), and merger and
acquisitions advice.
Fees payable to Deloitte LLP and its associates for non-audit services to the LLP are not required to be disclosed because the consolidated financial
statements are required to disclose such fees on a consolidated basis. No services were provided pursuant to contingent fee arrangements.
63
Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2017 (continued)
5. INTEREST PAYABLE
Interest payable and similar charges
Bank interest payable on loans and overdrafts
Other interest payable and similar charges
Interest payable
2017
£’000
2016
£’000
1,149
42
1,191
1,104
33
1,137
6. TAX ON PROFIT OF THE SUBSIDIARIES
Taxation arises within the subsidiary undertakings of the Group and represents:
2017
£’000
2016
£’000
Total tax on profits
UK corporation tax
37
898
The difference between the total tax charge shown above and the amount calculated by applying the standard rate of UK corporation tax to
the profit before tax is as follows:
2017
£’000
2016
£’000
Profits before tax
42,364
44,439
Tax on Group profit at standard UK corporation tax rate of 19%
(2016: 20%)
8,049
8,888
Effects of:
Tax borne by the individual Members
(8,012)
(7,990)
Group total tax charge for the year
37
898
From 1 April 2017, the main rate of UK corporation tax reduced to 19%.
7. MEMBERS’ REMUNERATION CHARGED AS AN EXPENSE
The basis on which profits are shared among the Members is set out in the principal accounting policies.
The profit attributable to the Member with the highest entitlement to profits was £845,849 (2016: £940,355).
Average number of Members during the year
2017
No.
210
2016
No.
228
Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2017 (continued)
8. INTANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
Group
Cost
At 1 May 2016
Additions
At 30 April 2017
Accumulated amortisation
At 1 May 2016
Charge for the year
At 30 April 2017
Net book value
At 30 April 2017
At 30 April 2016
Goodwill
£’000
Negative
goodwill
£’000
Software
£’000
Development
costs*
£’000
766
1,002
1,768
452
234
686
1,082
314
-
(1,273)
(1,273)
-
(882)
(882)
(391)
-
57
301
358
27
14
41
317
30
782
278
1,060
211
192
403
657
571
Total
£’000
1,605
308
1,913
690
(442)
248
1,665
915
* Development costs have been capitalised in accordance with FRS 102 section 18 intangible assets other than goodwill and are therefore not
treated as a realised loss.
LLP
Cost
At 1 May 2016
Additions
At 30 April 2017
Accumulated amortisation
At 1 May 2016
Charge for the year
At 30 April 2017
Net book value
At 30 April 2017
At 30 April 2016
Goodwill
£’000
Negative
goodwill
£’000
Software
£’000
Development
costs*
£’000
Total
£’000
67
200
267
-
47
47
220
67
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
57
300
357
27
14
41
316
30
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
124
500
624
27
61
88
536
97
* Development costs have been capitalised in accordance with FRS 102 section 18 intangible assets other than goodwill and are therefore not
treated as a realised loss.
65
Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2017 (continued)
9. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
Leasehold
improvements
£’000
Office
equipment
& fixtures
and fittings
£’000
Computer
equipment
£’000
Assets under
construction
£’000
Total
£’000
Group
Cost
At 1 May 2016
14,019
Additions on acquisitions
Additions
Transfers
425
215
889
5,959
518
1,011
-
31,559
141
2,275
-
-
-
(889)
889
52,426
At 30 April 2017
15,548
7,488
33,975
Accumulated depreciation
At 1 May 2016
Accumulated depreciation on acquisitions
Charge for the year
At 30 April 2017
Net book value
At 30 April 2017
At 30 April 2016
7,822
60
1,084
8,966
6,582
6,197
3,996
23,053
44
537
37
4,092
4,577
27,182
2,911
1,963
6,793
8,506
-
-
-
-
-
-
889
Leasehold
improvements
£’000
Office
equipment
& fixtures
and fittings
£’000
Computer
equipment
£’000
Assets under
construction
£’000
LLP
Cost
At 1 May 2016
14,019
Additions
Transfers
226
889
5,857
1,013
-
31,559
2,284
-
At 30 April 2017
15,134
6,870
33,843
Accumulated depreciation
At 1 May 2016
Charge for the year
At 30 April 2017
Net book value
At 30 April 2017
At 30 April 2016
7,830
1,069
8,899
6,235
6,189
3,996
503
4,499
2,371
1,861
23,053
4,086
27,139
6,704
8,506
889
-
(889)
-
-
-
-
-
889
1,084
3,501
-
57,011
34,871
141
5,713
40,725
16,286
17,555
Total
£’000
52,324
3,523
-
55,847
34,879
5,658
40,537
15,310
17,445
ASSETS HELD UNDER FINANCE LEASE
The Group has leases which are considered to meet the definition of finance leases and are accounted for accordingly. The net book value
of tangible fixed assets held under finance leases amount to £705,000 (2016: £1,177,000).
Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2017 (continued)
10. INVESTMENTS
Group
2017
£’000
Group
2016
£’000
Subsidiary undertakings
At 1 May 2016
Additions
At 30 April 2017
Other investments and loans
At 1 May 2016
Additions
At 30 April 2017
Total
-
-
-
-
254
254
254
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
LLP
2017
£’000
423
645
1,068
-
143
143
LLP
2016
£’000
8
415
423
-
-
-
1,211
423
During the year the Group acquired 10% of the issued share capital of Dealscoper Limited comprising of 28,650 ordinary
shares for consideration of £203,988. The Group also acquired issued share capital of SKIL Global Ports & Logistics for
a consideration of £50,000 for 500,000 ordinary shares at £0.10 each.
GROUP INVESTMENTS
The parent LLP and the Group have investments in the following subsidiary undertakings.
Registered
address
Principle place of
business
Nature of
business
Proportion of
ownership
Subsidiaries
Direct
Davies Wallis Foyster Limited***
Resolution Law Limited*
DWF Pension Trustees Limited***
Davies Wallis (unlimited)*
DWF Solicitors Limited*
DWF (Nominees) 2013 Limited*
DWF (Trustee) Limited*
Bailford EBT Trustees Limited*
Bailford Trustees Limited*
DWF Directors (Scotland) Limited*
DWF Secretarial Services (Scotland) Limited*
DWF Trustee (Scotland) Limited*
DWF Connected Services Limited
DWF (TG) Limited
DWF Germany Holding GbR **/***
DWF (Dublin) ***
DWF (Middle East) LLP ***
DWF (NI) LLP
i
i
viii
i
i
i
i
ix
ix
ix
ix
ix
i
i
iv
iii
v
vi
DWF (France) AARPI
vii
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Non trading
100%
Dormant
100%
United Kingdom
Provision of pension trustees services
100%
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Germany
Republic of Ireland
United Arab Emirates
Northern Ireland
France
Dormant
100%
Dormant
100%
Dormant
100%
Dormant
100%
Dormant
100%
Dormant
100%
Dormant
100%
Dormant
100%
Dormant
100%
Dormant
100%
Dormant
100%
Law services
100%
Law services
100%
Law services
100%
Law services
100%
Law services
100%
67
Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2017 (continued)
10. INVESTMENTS (continued)
GROUP INVESTMENTS (continued)
Registered
address
Principle place of
business
Nature of
business
Proportion of
ownership
Subsidiaries
Indirect
DWF Secretarial Services Limited*
DWF Nominees Limited*
DWF Claims Limited
DWF Loss Adjusting Limited
DWF Audit Limited
15squared Limited***
DWF Middle East Group LLP*
Triton Global Claims Ireland Limited
Triton Global LLC
Triton Global Claims (Canada) Limited
Triton Global (Australia) Pty Limited
Triton Global Claims (HK) Limited
Triton Global Claims (Asia) Pte Limited
Other Investments
Dealscoper Limited
SKIL Global Ports & Logistics Limited
i
i
i
i
i
ii
i
iii
xi
xii
xiii
xiv
xv
x
xvi
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Republic of Ireland
USA
Canada
Australia
Hong Kong
Singapore
Dormant
Dormant
Dormant
Dormant
Dormant
Software provider
Dormant
Law services
Law services
Law services
Law services
Dormant
Law services
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
United Kingdom
Guernsey
Software provider
10%
Asset investment
<0.1%
*
Subsidiary undertakings have been excluded from the consolidation on the basis of immateriality.
**
The statutory year end for DWF Germany Holding GbR in the period being reported is 31 December.
***
These entities are related entities of DWF LLP since the majority of its Members are also Members of DWF LLP.
In substance it is controlled by DWF LLP and so its results are included in the consolidation.
i
ii
iii
iv
v
vi
1 Scott Place, 2 Hardman Street, Manchester, United Kingdom, M3 3AA
150 Minories, London, EC3N 1LS
5 St. George’s Dock, IFSC, Dublin
Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH, Prinzregentenstraße 78, Munich, DE-81675
P.O. Box 507104, Office 901 & 904, Tower 2, Al Fattan Currency House, DIFC, Dubai
42 Queen Street, Belfast, BT1 6HL
vii
15 Avenue d’Iéna, FR-75116, Paris
viii
5 St. Paul’s Square, Old Hall Street, Liverpool, L3 9AE
ix
110 Queen Street, Glasgow, Scotland, G1 3HD
x
xi
Harrow House, 23 West Street, Haslemere, Surrey, GU27 2AB
740 Waukegan Road, Deerfield, Chicago, Illinois, 60015
xii
111 Queen Street East, Suite 450, Toronto, Ontario, M5C 1S2
xiii
48 Hunter Street, Sydney
xiv
25/F, OTB Building, 160 Gloucester Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
xv
8 Cross Street, Singapore, 048424
xvi
Martello Court, Admiral Park, St Peter Port, Guernsey, GY1 3HB
Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2017 (continued)
11. ACQUISITIONS
ACQUISITION OF TRADE AND ASSETS
The useful life of goodwill on acquisition is 5 years. The acquisitions have been accounted for under the acquisition method.
The following table sets out the book values of the identifiable assets and liabilities acquired and their fair value to the Group:
Trevor Fox T/A Fox Hartley
C&H Jefferson LLP
Heenan Paris
Triton Global
Total
Book
value
£’000
Fair value
to Group
£’000
Book
value
£’000
Fair value
to Group
£’000
Book
value
£’000
Fair value
to Group
£’000
Book
value
£’000
Fair value
to Group
£’000
Fair value
to Group
£’000
Fixed assets
Tangible
31
31
371
371
234
234
307
307
943
Current assets
Amounts recoverable from
clients in respect of unbilled
work performed
177
177
2,002
2,002
-
-
2,741
1,866
4,045
Debtors
Cash
Total assets
439
128
775
439
128
775
2,147
2,147
-
-
4,520
4,520
628
5
867
628
2,654
2,173
5,387
5
79
79
212
867
5,781
4,425
10,587
Creditors
Trade creditors
(109)
(109)
(469)
(469)
(175)
(175)
(157)
(157)
(910)
Other creditors
Total liabilities
(257)
(366)
(257)
(366)
(124)
(593)
(124)
(593)
(522)
(697)
(522)
(697)
(446)
(1,802)
(2,705)
(603)
(1,959)
(3,615)
Net assets
409
Goodwill
Satisified by
Cash consideration
Deferred consideration due
within one year
Capital consideration
Turnover for the period
Operating profit for the period
409
200
609
534
-
75
609
3,927
3,927
170
170
5,178
2,466
6,972
-
3,927
1,167
2,760
-
3,927
2,787
538
-
170
-
170
-
170
833
211
(1,273)
(1,073)
1,193
5,899
263
930
1,964
3,860
-
75
1,193
5,899
5,504
457
9,124
1,206
69
Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2017 (continued)
11. ACQUISITIONS (continued)
On 1 January 2016 the LLP acquired 100% control of BridgehouseLaw Germany holding GbR and BridgehouseLaw Germany RmbH,
companies whose primary activity is Legal Services, for consideration of £415,000. The fair value of the assets acquired was £415,000.
During the year ended 30 April 2017 additional consideration was recognised of £802,000, comprised of £385,000 capital, £139,000 cash
and £278,000 deferred consideration due within one year.
On 1 May 2016 the LLP acquired the business and assets of Trevor Fox T/A Fox Hartley, a sole trader whose primary activity is Legal Services, for
total consideration of £608,905. The fair value of the assets acquired was £408,905. In the year ended 30 April 2017 the turnover and operating
profit of the business are included in the results of the LLP, the results are not material to Group and have not been separately disclosed.
On 1 December 2016 the Group acquired the business and assets of C&H Jefferson LLP, a partnership whose primary activity is Legal
Services, for total consideration of £3,927,000. This was equal to the fair value of the assets acquired.
On 1 January 2017 the Group acquired the business and assets of Heenan Paris, a partnership whose primary activity is Legal Services,
for total consideration of £170,000. This was equal to the fair value of the assets acquired.
On 24 January 2017 the Group acquired the business and assets of Triton Global Limited and 100% control of it’s subsidiaries, whose
primary activity is Legal Services, for total consideration of £1,193,000. The fair value of the assets acquired was £2,466,000. The negative
goodwill that has arisen will be recognised in the Group Profit and Loss in the years ended 30 April 2017 and 30 April 2018. Triton Group
was comprised of Triton Global Limited, 3Sxity Limited, Triton Global Claims Ireland Limited, Triton Global LLC, Triton Global Claims (Canada)
Limited, Triton Global (Australia) Pty Limited, Triton Global Claims (HK) Limited and Triton Global Claims (Asia) Pte Limited. Individually these
are not considered material to the Group and the results for the period have been disclosed in aggregate.
12. DEBTORS
Group
2017
£’000
Group
2016
£’000
Amounts due from subsidiary entities*
-
-
Trade debtors
71,803
62,505
Amounts recoverable from clients in respect of unbilled work performed
30,906
21,347
Unbilled disbursements
Other debtors
Prepayments and accrued income
4,767
3,686
9,472
3,434
-
13,764
LLP
2017
£’000
63,194
7,691
26,956
4,700
2,647
8,677
LLP
2016
£’000
60,006
4,638
20,862
3,399
-
12,923
120,634
101,050
113,865
101,828
*Amounts due from subsidiary entities are interest free and repayable on demand.
13. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING
DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
Net obligations under finance leases and hire purchase obligations
Amounts due to subsidiary entities*
Bank loans and overdrafts
Group
2017
£’000
1,106
158
-
Group
2016
£’000
433
463
-
LLP
2017
£’000
430
158
8,763
Trade creditors
23,533
20,176
22,146
Corporation tax
-
Other taxation and social security
8,596
Other creditors
10,398
Accruals and deferred income
7,181
483
7,540
3,607
8,094
-
7,794
5,474
5,563
LLP
2016
£’000
433
463
15,815
19,708
-
627
2,862
5,483
*Amounts due from subsidiary entities are interest free and repayable on demand.
50,972
40,796
50,328
45,391
Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2017 (continued)
14. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE AFTER
ONE YEAR
Group
2017
£’000
Group
2016
£’000
LLP
2017
£’000
LLP
2016
£’000
Bank loans
40,192
40,324
39,944
40,324
Net obligations under finance leases and hire purchase obligations
Accruals and deferred income
-
8,905
49,097
139
10,342
50,805
-
8,835
48,779
15. BORROWINGS ARE REPAYABLE AS FOLLOWS
Group
2017
£’000
Group
2016
£’000
LLP
2017
£’000
Bank loans
Between one and two years
40,192
-
39,944
Between two and five years
After five years
-
-
40,324
-
-
-
139
10,342
50,805
LLP
2016
£’000
-
40,324
-
40,192
40,324
39,944
40,324
Overdraft due within one year
On demand or within one year
555
551
-
433
137
293
-
433
Total bank loans
41,298
40,757
40,374
40,757
Finance leases
Between one and two years
Between two and five years
After five years
On demand or within one year
Total finance leases
Total borrowings including finance leases
-
-
-
-
158
158
139
-
-
139
463
602
-
-
-
-
158
158
Between one and two years
40,192
139
39,944
Between two and five years
After five years
-
-
40,324
-
-
-
139
-
-
139
463
602
139
40,324
-
On demand or within one year
1,264
896
588
896
Total borrowings including finance leases
41,456
41,359
40,532
41,359
40,192
40,463
39,944
40,463
The bank loans of DWF LLP are unsecured and repayable July 2018. Interest is payable on the three year bank loans at a variable
rate of LIBOR + 1.35% on the principal amounts.
The finance leases are secured over certain tangible fixed assets and attract interest at various rates.
71
Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2017 (continued)
16. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS
The carrying values of the Group financial assets and liabilities are summarised by category below:
Note
Group
2017
£’000
Group
2016
£’000
Financial assets
Instruments measured at amortised cost
Trade and other debtors
12
111,162
87,286
Equity instruments measured at cost less impairment
Fixed asset investments in unlisted equity instruments
10
254
-
Financial liabilities
Measured at amortised cost
Loans payable
Obligations under finance leases
Measured at undiscounted amount payable
Bank overdraft
Trade and other creditors
111,416
87,286
15
15
15
13
40,743
40,237
158
602
555
42,527
83,983
137
31,323
72,299
The Group’s income, expense, gains and losses in respect of financial
instruments are summarised below:
Total interest expense for financial liabilities at amortised cost
Interest expense
1,191
1,191
1,137
1,137
Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 30 April 2017 (continued)
17. FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS
Total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases are as follows:
2017
Land and
buildings
£’000
2017
Other
£’000
2016
Land and
buildings
£’000
Group
Leases which expire:
Within one year
In the second to fifth years inclusive
After five years
10,636
40,927
28,665
80,228
543
-
-
543
18. NET CASH INFLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES
Reconciliation of operating profit to cash generated by operations:
10,834
34,576
36,721
82,131
2017
£’000
Operating profit
43,555
Depreciation
Amortisation of goodwill and other intangibles
Negative goodwill recognised
5,713
440
(882)
2016
Other
£’000
1,015
-
-
1,015
2016
£’000
45,576
6,054
266
-
Operating cash flow before movement in working capital
48,826
51,896
(Increase)/decrease in debtors
(10,137)
Increase in creditors and liabilities
1,476
445
446
Cash generated by operation
40,165
52,787
Corporation tax paid
(520)
(935)
Net cash flow from operating activities
39,645
51,852
During the year the Group entered into no finance lease arrangements (2016: £1,057,000).
19. CONTROLLING PARTY AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
In the opinion of the Members there is no controlling party as defined by FRS 102 Section 33.
DWF LLP has relied upon the exemption given in FRS 102 section 33 not disclose transactions between itself and its 100% subsidiary
undertakings or other entities wholly included within the consolidation.
The Group considers Strategic Board Members as the key management personnel. The total remuneration for key management personnel
for the year total £3,500,000 (2016: £3,438,000).
73
Belfast
42 Queen Street
Belfast BT1 6HL
Tel: +44 (0)28 9023 0230
Fax: +44 (0)28 9024 4644
Berlin
Linkstr. 12
10785 Berlin
Tel: +49 30 25090110-0
Fax: +49 30 25090110-40
Birmingham
One Snowhill
Snow Hill Queensway
Birmingham B4 6GA
Tel: +44 (0)333 320 2220
Fax: +44 (0)333 320 4440
Brisbane
Level 6, 231 George Street
BRISBANE QLD 4000, Australia
GPO Box 74, BRISBANE QLD 4001
Tel: +61 7 3013 2700
Fax: +61 7 3003 0788
Bristol
Redcliff Quay
120 Redcliff Street
Bristol BS1 6HU
Tel: +44 (0)333 320 2220
Fax: +44 (0)333 320 4440
Brussels
Avenue Louise 523
1050 Brussels
Belgium
Tel: +32 (0)2 669 07 43
Fax: +32 (0)2 669 07 45
Chicago
740 Waukegan Road
Suite 340
Deerfield, IL 60015
T: (847) 607-9023
Cologne
Habsburgerring 2
Westgate
50674 Cologne Germany
Tel: +49 (0)221 5340 980
Fax: +49 (0)221 5340 9828
Dubai
Office 901 & 904 - Tower 2
Al Fattan Currency House
DIFC
T: +971 (0)4 397 8565
Bankers
Barclays
1st Floor
3 Hardman Street
Spinningfields
Manchester
M3 3HF
HSBC
4 Hardman Square
Spinningfields
Manchester
M3 3EB
Dublin
5 George’s Dock
IFSC
Dublin
Tel: +353 (0)1 790 9400
Fax: +353 (01) 790 9401
Edinburgh
No. 2 Lochrin Square
96 Fountainbridge
Edinburgh EH3 9QA
Tel: +44 (0)333 320 2220
Fax: +44 (0)333 320 4440
Glasgow
110 Queen Street
Glasgow G1 3HD
Tel: +44 (0) 141 228 8000
Fax: +44 (0) 141 228 8310
Leeds
Bridgewater Place
Water Lane
Leeds LS11 5DY
Tel: +44 (0)333 320 2220
Fax: +44 (0)333 320 4440
Liverpool
5 St Paul’s Square
Old Hall Street
Liverpool L3 9AE
Tel: +44 (0)333 320 2220
Fax: +44 (0)333 320 4440
London
20 Fenchurch Street
London EC3M 3AG
Tel: +44 (0)333 320 2220
Fax: +44 (0)333 320 4440
Manchester
(Registered Office)
1 Scott Place
2 Hardman Street
Manchester M3 3AA
Tel: +44 (0)333 320 2220
Fax: +44 (0)333 320 4440
Melbourne
Level 3, 1 Queens Road
Melbourne, Australia
VIC 3004, PO Box 33116
Tel: +61 3 9863 8038
Milan
Via dei Bossi 6
20121 - Milano
Italy
Tel: (+39) 0230317999
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
Milton Keynes
3rd Floor, Exchange House
494 Midsummer Boulevard
Milton Keynes MK9 2EA
Tel: +44 (0)333 320 2220
Fax: +44 (0)333 320 4440
Munich
Prinzregentenstraβe 78
81675 Munich Germany
Tel: +49 (0)89 2060 299 60
Fax: +49 (0)89 2060 299 66
Newcastle
Great North House
Sandyford Road
Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ND
Tel: +44 (0)333 320 2220
Fax: +44 (0)333 320 4440
Paris
15 avenue d’Iéna
75116 Paris
Tel: +33 (0)1 40 69 26 50
Fax: +33 (0)1 40 69 26 99
Singapore
9 Raffles Place
Level 58 Republic Plaza
Tel: +65 6823 1365
Sydney
Level 4
48 Hunter Street
Sydney
NSW 2000
Australia
Tel: +61 28235 4044
Fax: +61 28235 4040
Toronto
111 Queen Street East
Suite 450
Toronto, ON
T: +1 647 256 3525
Officers and professional advisers
Designated Members
P A Berry
C Bowler
A R Leaitherland
S J Miles
P R Rimmer
H Ross
Auditor
Deloitte LLP
2 Hardman Street
Manchester
M3 3HF
“As trusted business advisers to RSA for many years, I very much
appreciate the valuable contribution which DWF provides in our
strategy to combat fraudulent claims.”
John Beadle - Head of Financial Crime and Fraud, RSA
“With DWF you're made to feel like you're the only client. Because
they know us well, they know our expectations in terms of advice
and our risk appetite and offer more tailored advice.”
Phil Hooper - Head of Real Estate, RBS
“DWF’s fraud services provide not only sound legal advice and
representation but also wider support marked by unparalleled levels
of client care; all of which add considerable value to our business.”
Cliff Slassor - Counter Fraud Team Manager, Insure the Box
“In short I cannot recommend
DWF highly enough. From a
barrister’s perspective, it is
rare to see solicitors who
combine the right mix of
daring and good judgment.”
Changez Khan - Counsel, Farrars Building
“I have worked with the
team at DWF for the last 17
years. The team are highly
dedicated, motivated and
innovative professionals
who share an unwavering
sense of integrity and
uncompromising
commitment to legal
excellence. ”
Sarah Cavanagh - Counsel, Chambers Director, Oriel Chambers
“We have all learned a huge amount over the years but we wont
be as effective as we need to be without someone taking the
initiative to drive the collaboration and I'm grateful to DWF for
being the catalyst to improving prevention and detection of
insurance fraud in Scotland.”
Oliver Little - Detective Chief Inspector, City of London Police (Scotland)
75
DWF LLP is a Limited Liability Partnership registered
The term Partner is used to refer to a Member of
in England and Wales (registered number
DWF LLP or an employee or consultant with
OC328794). DWF LLP is authorised and regulated
equivalent standing and qualification. A list of the
by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. DWF LLP is
Members of DWF LLP and of the Non-Members
also recognised as an incorporated practice with the
who are designated as Partners is open to inspection
Law Society of Scotland (registered number 43186).
at its registered office, 1 Scott Place, 2 Hardman
DWF in Ireland is a partnership regulated by the Law
Street, Manchester M3 3AA. © DWF LLP 2018
Society of Ireland.
www.dwf.law