Winston Taylor Launches: A New Transatlantic Legal Powerhouse Emerges

CHICAGO & LONDON – June 01, 2026 – The global legal industry witnessed the official debut of a new heavyweight today as Winston Taylor launched as a single, combined firm. The transatlantic entity is the product of the historic combination of Chicago-founded Am Law 50 firm Winston & Strawn and the U.K.-led business of European powerhouse Taylor Wessing, creating a premier law firm with over 1,400 lawyers across 20 offices.

The new firm is built with an ambitious goal: to serve the businesses, people, and markets driving global capital and innovation. With an estimated combined annual revenue of approximately $1.75 billion, Winston Taylor immediately enters the market as a formidable competitor, positioning itself just outside the top 40 of the Global 200 rankings.

“As Winston Taylor, we are centered on a client-first approach and will be working shoulder to shoulder with our clients at the cutting edge of industry and ingenuity,” said Chairman Steve D’Amore, who previously chaired Winston & Strawn. “With that common purpose, we are leveraging both strength and scale by integrating our teams and offices at record speed, working at pace to create a firm that is aligned, focused, and built for the day-to-day needs of our clients as well as their breakthrough moments.”

A New Giant on the Global Stage

The creation of Winston Taylor is a significant move in a legal market defined by increasing consolidation. The launch comes amidst a wave of transatlantic mergers, including the recently agreed-upon combinations of Ashurst and Perkins Coie, and Hogan Lovells with Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft. These strategic tie-ups reflect a clear industry-wide response to the growing demand from multinational clients for seamless, integrated legal counsel across key international jurisdictions.

Winston Taylor’s expansive footprint covers major commercial centers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. The firm brings together two institutions with deep roots, representing a combined history of over 400 years. Winston & Strawn, founded in 1853, has long been recognized for its leadership in U.S. litigation and transactions, while Taylor Wessing, with origins tracing back to 1782, is renowned for its Tier 1 practices in intellectual property, technology, and private wealth in the U.K. and Europe.

The new firm’s unique selling proposition is its ability to offer integrated US–UK–EU counsel, a critical advantage for businesses navigating complex cross-border regulatory, transactional, and dispute resolution challenges. By combining their strengths, the legacy firms aim to create a global platform that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Crafting a Transatlantic Legal Engine

The structure of the combination is a carefully calibrated integration. The new firm fully incorporates Winston & Strawn with Taylor Wessing's U.K.-led business, which includes its offices in the U.K., Ireland, and Dubai. In a further move to solidify its European presence, partners from Taylor Wessing in the Netherlands and Belgium also voted to join the new entity, with their full integration under the Winston Taylor brand expected to proceed over time, pending regulatory approvals.

To ensure global client service continuity, Winston Taylor has established a formal cooperation and referral arrangement with the legacy Taylor Wessing verein, which includes its German business and other international offices not fully integrated into the merger. This hybrid structure allows the new firm to maintain a broad network while focusing its integration efforts on core transatlantic markets.

Shane Gleghorn, formerly the Managing Partner of Taylor Wessing UK and now Managing Partner of Europe and Middle East for the combined firm, emphasized the strategic alignment behind the move. “We have created a unified, transatlantic team focused on providing unparalleled service to clients and attracting the best practitioners in the major hubs of innovation and capital,” he stated. “As part of this defining combination, our lawyers have already identified dozens of new cross-border opportunities to serve clients, advising global innovators in key sectors and winning work that is possible because of our newly combined footprint and capabilities.”

A Client-Centric Blueprint for Key Sectors

At the heart of Winston Taylor’s strategy is a sharpened focus on the specific needs of clients in high-growth, innovative sectors. The firm has defined its core capabilities as Major Litigation, Critical Transactions, Strategic IP, and Private Wealth, and will concentrate its efforts on four key sectors: Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT); Life Sciences & Healthcare; Financial Services; and Projects, Energy & Infrastructure.

This sector-focused approach is underpinned by powerful practice area synergies. The combination is expected to create a market-leading transatlantic IP platform by merging Winston & Strawn’s formidable U.S. intellectual property litigation practice with Taylor Wessing UK’s top-tier, holistic UK-EU IP advisory and enforcement practice. This provides a one-stop shop for IP-rich clients managing and defending their most valuable assets across the world’s largest markets. Similarly, the integration of robust tax practices in both the U.S. and the U.K. offers a more comprehensive proposition for clients navigating complex cross-border tax planning and disputes.

The firm's leadership has stressed that the merger is fundamentally client-driven, designed to provide the end-to-end global business strategy and support that modern enterprises require. From advising on major M&A transactions and raising capital in U.S. debt markets to handling high-stakes international litigation, the firm is now structured to provide a single, cohesive team.

Merging Histories and Forging a New Culture

Successfully blending two distinct firm cultures is often the most significant challenge in any large-scale merger. However, Winston Taylor appears to be built on a solid foundation of shared values. Both legacy firms were known for having friendly, supportive, and collegiate working environments that prioritized collaboration over internal competition. This cultural alignment was a key factor in the merger discussions and is expected to smooth the integration process.

Under the joint leadership of D'Amore and Gleghorn, the firm is focused on fostering a unified culture that leverages the strengths of both its predecessors while forging a new identity. The emphasis on working “shoulder to shoulder” with clients is intended to be more than a marketing slogan; it is a guiding principle for how the firm’s 1,400 lawyers are expected to operate. The rapid pace of the pre-launch integration signals a strong commitment from leadership to move forward as a single, cohesive unit.

With a three-year growth plan already in development for Europe and the Middle East, Winston Taylor is not resting on its laurels. The firm is actively focused on strategic recruitment to attract top legal talent and is poised to make significant investments to deepen its expertise in its core sectors. As it begins its first official day of operations, the new transatlantic powerhouse is set to become a defining force in the global legal market for years to come.