The Legal Cheek View
Winston Taylor is a new name on the BigLaw block following a summer 2026 mega-merger combining Taylor Wessing with US outfit Winston & Strawn. While Taylor Wessing dwarfs its US counterpart, the combined firm brings together TW’s strong life sciences and IP offerings with W&S’s private equity know-how. The tie-up has created one of the largest transatlantic players, spanning 20 offices, with combined revenues in excess of £1.3 billion.
Winston Taylor runs a happy ship. A notoriously friendly place to work, insiders also rate the thorough training, reasonable work-life balance and their “incredibly down to earth” peers. The firm’s high-profile sponsorship of the National Portrait Gallery Photographic Prize helps ratchet up its cool factor, too.
Even pre-tie-up, both firms were in fine fettle. Taylor Wessing reported 10% revenue growth, taking its global figure to €619 million (£526 million), with profit per equity partner (PEP) also rising to around £1.1 million. Smaller but by no means less mighty, Winston & Strawn posted strong profitability of its own, with net income jumping 9.6% to $410.24 million (£300 million) and PEP hitting $3.5 million (£2.57 million).
Beyond the numbers, Winston Taylor has been investing in its operations. The merger was not without friction: a number of Taylor Wessing’s European and Asian offices chose to break away from the combined entity rather than operate under the Winston Taylor banner, opting instead to continue independently. In return, the new firm gains a raft of US locations, ranging from Chicago to Dallas to New York. The new outfit spans 20 offices, with the London HQ getting an upgrade in the form of swanky new digs at 5 New Street Square following an 18-month refurbishment, arriving just in time to accommodate the Winston & Strawn team relocating from their 100 Bishopsgate lodgings.
Aside from its reputation for being exceptionally friendly, WT is also known for its pretty snazzy clientele. The merger has only bolstered that reputation, with Winston & Strawn bringing its own equally impressive roster to the table, including Motorola, Verizon, Tom Brady and the New York Stock Exchange. Combined with Taylor Wessing’s existing client base, the likes of Sky, Monzo and L’Oreal sit alongside a raft of fintech start-ups and cryptocurrency platforms.
Recent deals out of the London office included advising Vinted on its €340 million secondary share sale and helping AI-driven retail solutions leader Rezolve AI establish its $1 billion Bitcoin treasury programme. Some clients might even be described as peachy: the firm previously advised The Roald Dahl Story Company and its shareholders on the sale of the business to Netflix, helping bring Charlie & The Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach to a whole new audience.
It’s not all Netflix deals, however. We’re told the variety of work “across practice areas is large, with stimulating work more readily seen in non-transactional seats”. In some areas there can be “some lesser skilled, administrative-type tasks”, but at least one trainee notes that they have been “given a significant amount of responsibility on matters, much more than [I] have heard from friends at other firms”, with the opportunity to “run matters and cases by [myself]”. Another trainee sums up their experience as: “overall, a good level of involvement in important and interesting work”.
Generally, the ratio between challenging work and grunt work is regarded as good relative to many firms. According to one rookie, “every single day is different”. Another enthuses: “Due to the strength of support staff, trainees aren’t stuck with mundane tasks. Lots of my work feels associate-level.” Winston Taylor’s Liverpool office, which opened with a brief to handle lower-level tasks, may have helped tilt the balance. As one former trainee puts it: “This is a small part of the overall trainee work and the people giving you these tasks try to avoid doing so where possible. At the other end of the scale, I’ve been consistently given the opportunity to engage in interesting and challenging work in all four of my seats. Overall, I think this breadth of experience and wide exposure has helped me to build up an understanding of the way in which matters work, from a junior to a more senior level.”
Winston Taylor’s commitment to tech clients remains strong, with the firm’s well-established Cambridge office developing close ties with top academics specialising in legal tech research. Each year, one lucky trainee gets the chance to engage with these pioneering technology projects through an annual Cambridge-based training contract.
The firm is “always looking to innovate and introduce new technology”, developing its own AI products internally. Alongside the recent launch of LitiGate, an AI-driven litigation platform, and Lithium, hailed by one trainee as the firm’s “own equivalent of ChatGPT”, rookies now also have access to AI platform Legora. “There are always new products being launched and trialled,” insiders tell us, and the firm’s IT team is said to be “very responsive”.
Training is thorough, beginning with a one-week induction before the first seat, followed by department-specific training and ‘know-how’ sessions on different topics throughout. Colleagues at all levels are praised for their approachability, with trainees describing them as “incredibly supportive” and “always willing to answer questions and allow me to develop greater understanding of legal principles and strategy”. The one caveat is that the “quality of supervision varies across practice areas”.
Work-life balance is one of the firm’s genuine strengths, and it has a reputation for being at the more reasonable end of the City law spectrum. One trainee says that it “really varies from team to team. In my first seat, my average hours were incredibly reasonable (apart from the odd late night here and there), which allowed me to have evening plans in the work week. However, in my second seat, which has been slightly busier, my average hours have slightly increased. On the whole, though, compared to other firms, my working hours are incredibly reasonable, highlighted by the fact I have only worked two weekends in my ten months or so with the firm.”
One trainee says he has “no complaints at all”, with most people at the firm respecting work-life balance, “especially for trainees”, although those in corporate departments “may have periods of longer hours in the evenings”. Another plus, according to one junior, is that there’s no “face time culture”: if you are done for the day, you can head home. Given the salaries, not a bad gig.
The firm has adopted a “hybrid” model of working where staff, including trainees, can work remotely for a portion of their time. To support this, it has implemented BigHand resource management to ensure hybrid working is accompanied by equitable and inclusive work allocation. One rookie notes, “the hybrid working system is amazing. It’s great to be able to factor in your personal life by working from home. It also means I can use the time I would usually use to commute for exercise. I personally haven’t noticed a drop in my development due to the model.” On the equipment front, one junior praises the “good allowance” the firm provides “in addition to an office chair”, while another confirms the firm will supply “any equipment needed”.
The “chatty and welcoming” partners are “incredibly down to earth” and highly rated by rookies for their approachability, with the natural caveat that they can be harder to reach during particularly busy periods. One trainee reports: “I’m in my fourth seat and yet to come across someone who isn’t supportive and willing to take time out of their day to provide guidance and support. Most memorably, I asked one of the partners if he had 10-15 minutes to speak about a recent update of interest. Our chat ended up lasting just over an hour and when I thanked the partner for his time, his response was that he is always happy to take time to help support and further the interests of junior members of the firm.”
The “trainee cohort is absolutely lovely” too, with “everyone looking to support each other” and “no competitive culture”, insiders say. One tells us: “my peers are amazing and I can rely on them for support,” whilst another echoes: “I think the culture is probably the best part. There are almost no ‘bad apples’ and I’d be more than happy to chat with any of the other trainees or my team.”
The firm offers a handful of international secondments, though these are not especially common. Client-side secondments are far more frequent, with a good chunk of rookies reporting stints at fashion retailer Farfetch, as well as at major tech, pharmaceutical and property companies.
The office is renowned for its “incredible views over the City” and a canteen offering free breakfasts for those early enough to catch the morning worm. Things are set to improve further still. The refurbishment of WT’s City HQ at 5 New Street Square has now been completed, with a new reception, lifts and an outdoor communal terrace among the highlights, alongside efforts to decarbonise the building. According to one rookie, “the designs for the new office look outstanding”.
The perks round things off nicely: yoga sessions, premium wellbeing app subscriptions, in-house massages, a national art pass, an in-house GP, free dinners and Deliveroo allowances after 8pm, and complimentary tickets to some of the glamorous events Winston Taylor sponsors. The firm also operates an incentive programme awarding lawyers crypto tokens for “outstanding contributions to the firm”, a scheme which appears to be the first of its kind in the legal industry.
Winston Taylor is also deeply focused on sustainability. Facilities including food waste recycling, numerous recycling points throughout the office and the provision of e-bikes and electric car purchase opportunities are all designed to help employees reduce their carbon footprint. This environmental commitment informed the decision to refurbish the London office rather than move into new premises. One trainee reports that the firm “helped develop and sign up to the Legal Charter 1.5 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions”, and an active Sustainability Network gives trainees the chance to get involved in making the techy firm ever greener.