Law Firm of the Year

Taylor Wessing’s VC team is highly regarded by clients and commentators alike. Once again this year it has retained its top ranking in VC in the key UK legal directories Legal 500 and Chambers.

For the second year running the private equity team doubled the number of private equity houses for whom it acts. New clients include Ion Equity, Bridgepoint, Greenhill Capital and Graphite Capital. In the last 18 months Taylor Wessing has acted on more than £1.5bn of mid-market deals. Throughout the recent economic turmoil Taylor Wessing has remained focused on its areas of strength, particularly technology and life sciences. In the last year it has worked on a raft of mandates from clients such as Plastic Logic and Software Cellular Networks.

Taylor Wessing’s intellectual property and IT lawyers do a great deal of stand-alone technology work, which means they have a greater familiarity with new technologies and business practices than other firms.

As businesses become increasingly environmentally aware, Taylor Wessing is establishing a formidable reputation in advising cleantech funds, leveraging the strengths of its technology, climate change and environmental practices. This is an area in which it is seeing fast-growing activity. For example, in the last year Taylor Wessing has received first-time instructions from Climate Change Capital, Aloe Private Equity and the Entrepreneurs’ Fund, who are all cleantech specialists.

Taylor Wessing is also a friend of the VC community. It has actively supported groups such as Library House, ERBI and the Cambridge Network, and the newly-formed Business Leader Network. Its Cambridge-based team is widely recognised as a leader in industry-wide initiatives. For example, Taylor Wessing has been heavily involved in the production of model documents for venture capital investment for the BVCA. These documents are aimed at ensuring that the investment process is as streamlined as possible and that costs are minimised wherever possible.

Taylor Wessing has a substantial European team comprising more than 50 lawyers serving the venture capital and private equity markets. A number are recognised leaders in their respective fields, such as Simon Walker, who heads the VC and cleantech teams.

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Shortlist

Clifford Chance

Hogan and Hartson

Ogier

SJ Berwin

Taylor Wessing

Travers Smith