Bloomberg Law, Legal Business and The Global Legal Post Feature Edwards Gibson’s Insight on Winston & Strawn and Taylor Wessing Merger

Edwards Gibson is proud to be featured in Bloomberg Law, Legal Business and The Global Legal Post’s coverage of another headline-making tie-up: Winston & Strawn’s merger discussions with UK tech-flavoured firm Taylor Wessing.

Kate Peacock’s Legal Business article explored whether the deal represents “a merger of complementaries” or “transatlantic panic”, citing the urgency created by other recent tie-ups. The article drew on Edwards Gibson’s commentary to underline the challenges of aligning two firms with different sector strengths and financial profiles. Scott Gibson noted that, at first glance, the fit is “not obvious”, given Taylor Wessing’s dominance in technology and life sciences compared to Winston’s litigation and transactional focus. Gibson also flagged the disparity in partner profits as a potential hurdle: Winston is the much larger of the two firms, with 2024 revenues of $1.27bn (£946m) compared to Taylor Wessing’s UK revenues of £284m and firmwide turnover of £526m for 2024-25. The US firm’s profit per equity partner of $3.5m (£2.6m) is also much higher than Taylor Wessing’s UK PEP of £1.1m, a disparity that Gibson notes will add an element of difficulty to the proposed merger.

Meanwhile, The Global Legal Post examined the rationale behind the deal and its implications for market positioning. While Victoria Basham’s piece highlighted the ambition of both firms to strengthen their transatlantic capabilities, Gibson again struck a cautious note, observing that Winston & Strawn’s litigation-heavy profile contrasts with Taylor Wessing’s tech and life sciences focus, which might have aligned more naturally with a West Coast firm. His analysis provided a counterpoint to the firms’ own narrative, reinforcing the complexity of executing such a merger successfully.

Finally, In Bloomberg Law, Meghan Tribe focused on the strategic rationale behind the discussions, noting that the combination would unite complementary strengths and international reach. Edwards Gibson’s director, Scott Gibson, described Taylor Wessing as “a well-respected law firm”, highlighting its strong credentials in the lower and middle market private equity space, and in particular, the technology sector. Winston & Strawn, by contrast, is better known for its litigation prowess. Gibson pointed to growing pressure on UK firms to secure US exposure, commenting: “There is a little bit of pressure now, as a result of all these other mergers taking place, for firms to do something,” emphasising that UK firms are keen to tie up with American counterparts to access the world’s largest legal market. Conversely, US firms are increasingly eager to invest in London.

Across all three publications, Edwards Gibson’s insights continues to shape the conversation on the future of global legal markets.

Note: Since the article was first published, it has now been confirmed that the firms intend to merge under the name Winston Taylor.

Read the full Bloomberg Law article here (paywall).

Read the full Legal Business article here.

Read the full Global Legal Post article here.