About us - Key facts

  • The Firm was founded in 1837 in the City of London
  • We currently have 30 Partners and a total staff of over 170.
  • We have two joint managing partners, Pat Treacy and Mark Watts.
  • Around two thirds of our staff including a third of our partners are female, one of the highest ratios for a commercial law firm in the United Kingdom.
  • Around ten percent of our staff are employed on a flexible working basis.
  • We employ people from all over the world with diverse backgrounds and expertise. Around one fifth of our workforce describe themselves as being other than white or British.
  • The average number of years' service for our staff is over 7 years.
  • We have always been involved with innovative clients and technologies: clients from the early days included the Electric Telephone Company; The Celluloid Manufacturing Company; and Steam Plough Patents. Today's equivalents include Novartis; Canon; Diageo; Dolby; Cap Gemini; Mitsubishi Electric; Samsung Electronics to name but a few.
  • We have always had an international focus, acting for many overseas companies - in fact we established the UK businesses of many US corporations including, for example, Kodak Limited at the beginning of the 20th Century. During the 1930s our transatlantic business continued to flourish - we were involved in drafting agreements for the laying of the first trans-Atlantic telephone cable.
  • Our international focus continues today.  Over the last three years, approximately 80% of our income has come from overseas clients.
  • 70% of our partners are recommended for their particular specialisms by Chambers and/or Legal 500.