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Overview
A mid-tier City firm with a focus on areas including energy, shipping and other areas of asset finance, Watson Farley & Williams propped up the 2007 Legal Week Top 50 with annual revenues of £54m. That was set against average partner profits of around £400,000 - unspectacular in City terms but still more profitable than most serious regional firms, some national players - and not a million miles away from much larger City outfits such as Denton Wilde Sapte and Barlow Lyde & Gilbert.
History
Watson Farley was founded in London in 1982 and has not been in the news a great deal since. The less-than-high-profile firm made a rare appearance in the headlines in 2007 when it emerged that it was in merger talks with US insurance and energy specialist Chadbourne & Parke. That wasn't quite the first time - indeed, Watson Farley had previously spoken to firms including City heavyweight Simmons & Simmons and US outfit Hunton & Williams.
However, the Chadbourne talks - though long-running - appeared to make little serious headway and once news of the possible combination became public, the smart money was always on the deal falling through.
And so it came to pass, with the annoucement in November 2007 that the merger bid - presided over by managing partner Michael Greville (pictured below) - had failed after almost 12 months of talks. For a detailed analysis on the Editors' Blog of why that deal - which would have created a transatlantic giant with revenues of around £200m - may have failed, click here.
Perhaps somewhat more wary after its experience with Chadbourne, Watson Farley subsequently ruled out pursuing a merger further down the line.
Culture
Key departments
Structurally, Watson Farley is organised into four broad practice streams - corporate, finance, litigation and tax.
National/international coverage
Watson Farley boasts an international network spanning a number of suitably exotic locales, as befits a firm with its background in shipping. Outside London, the firm operates branches in Piraeus and Athens in Greece; elsewhere in Europe, Paris and Rome; New York; and Singapore and Bangkok in Asia.
The most recent addition to that network was the Hamburg operation, its seventh overseas, which was launched in late 2005 to focus initially on shipping and shipping finance. The operation has since branched out into more general transactional and financing work.
Key clients
Leading partners
Career prospects
In 2008 the firm made up a bumper crop of nine new partners - a major increase on the previous year's tally of just one.
Salaries
Recruitment
Watson Farley takes on around a dozen trainees each year. For information on the firm's graduate recruitment, click here.
Work-life balance
Diversity
Pro bono and corporate social responsibility
You can read the firm's CSR policy here.
