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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 rose to 40th place in the 2009 Legal Week Top 50 with annual revenues of £73.5m. That was set against a 1.4% rise in average partner profits of £430,000 – a creditable performance given the tough market conditions.

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 2009 the firm made up five new partners – a fall on the previous year's tally of nine.

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.

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