Taylor Wessing eyes private wealth prize with its US merger

When Taylor Wessing’s merger with Winston & Strawn was announced late last year, most of the attention focused on the obvious headline strengths: IP, private equity, corporate. But inside the firm, another practice group is being positioned as a key part of the combined firm’s strategy - private wealth.

Speaking on The Non-Billable Podcast, Taylor Wessing UK senior partner Nick Warr and head of international private wealth Gabriel Estevez say that private wealth will be “one of the four core focuses” of the newly merged Winston Taylor business - due to go live any day now - with the combination creating a one of its kind transatlantic offering.

“Private wealth is an umbrella term for a holistic set of services that are specifically aimed towards high net worth individuals and families,” Estevez says. “It means that we’re able to target and service their personal and business needs.”

An increasingly international market

Taylor Wessing has long had one of the City’s top private wealth practices. The area has become increasingly important as wealthy clients grow more international and more sophisticated in how they manage capital.

According to the pair, more than 90% of Taylor Wessing’s private wealth clients now have interests spanning multiple jurisdictions, with London, Milan, Dubai and the US all becoming increasingly interconnected capital corridors.

That change has accelerated amid the migration of wealthy individuals out of the UK following changes to the non-dom regime and broader tax reforms.

“Definitely Milan, definitely Dubai, some Switzerland,” Estevez says of the key destinations. “There’s definitely been an acceleration over the last 18 months.”

But rather than hurting firms like Taylor Wessing, the trend has counter intuitively generated more work with clients turning to London’s status as an advisory hub to seek advice. “The irony is that we tend to do more for them when they’ve left the UK than when they’re here,” Warr says.

The Winston Taylor opportunity

The merger with Winston & Strawn is designed to deepen that international capability. While the US firm does not market itself as a dedicated private wealth player, Warr says many of its lawyers already advise ultra-wealthy clients across corporate, litigation and transactional matters.

“They have incredible credentials in the private wealth space and connections,” he says. “It’s just that it’s not packaged up as part of a private wealth umbrella.”

The pair say that few firms have managed to build a genuinely international private wealth platform. Warr points to firms like Macfarlanes and Charles Russell Speechlys as established competitors in the market, but believes Winston Taylor has an opportunity to differentiate itself through its transatlantic reach and broader commercial offering.

“Can you service US, UK and Europe and Middle East?” Estevez says. “Actually the answer is that not many people can do that in the private wealth space.”

The ambition, he adds, is to create “the global platform of choice” for internationally mobile wealth - and become the first firm to offer a truly joined-up private wealth platform spanning the UK, Europe, the Middle East and the US.

Listen to the full conversation on The Non-Billable Podcast.