DWF has hired a 27-strong team from Kennedys to boost its major injury and casualty group across London and Leeds.
The group is led by partners Richard West, Claire Mulligan, Gareth Thomas and Jennifer Harris, alongside a director, 10 senior associates and a wider team of associates, solicitors and legal professionals. DWF first announced the partners’ hire back in July and said that they and their team have now joined the firm.
DWF also hit Kennedys in London in February for a 13-strong marine insurance team led by the head of its marine practice Chris Dunn, and said the incoming group marked a significant expansion of its major injury and casualty offering.
“The breadth and calibre of this intake is outstanding and reinforces our position as a leading provider of legal and business services to the insurance industry,” said Matthew Doughty, group CEO and head of DWF’s insurance services division.
The team brings extensive experience in liability defence, catastrophic injury, travel litigation, regulatory matters and crisis management. For his part West was global head of Kennedys’ liability defence and client innovation teams, while Mulligan led its travel team.
A fifth partner, Victoria Kennedy, will join DWF’s major injury and casualty practice in early October from DAC Beachcroft, where she is joint head of the corporate insurance and risk division.
The group is the latest in a string of senior hires by DWF since it delisted in October 2023 after accepting an all-cash offer from private equity firm Inflexion, which also holds a stake in legal rankings company Chambers & Partners.
The firm hit leading Australian independent Hall & Wilcox last November for nine insurance litigation partners, including team leaders Matt Curll and Rachael Arnold, which it followed up earlier this month with the hire of 53 professionals from the firm. The hires were part of strategic efforts to grow its presence in the country having scaled back its footprint in 2021 after the Covid-19 pandemic forced the firm into a series of cutbacks across its international network.
In January DWF also merged with the insurance and litigation team of Quebec-based law firm Bélanger Sauvé, adding 28 people and establishing Montreal as its fourth Canadian office in the process. And in December it recruited the managing partner of Hogan Lovells’ Warsaw office alongside nine further corporate and commercial lawyers.
The firm grew its topline 8% to £466m in the year ending 30 April 2025, the firm’s first full financial year since its buyout by Inflexion.
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