Taylor Wessing UK has hired Travers Smith’s head of competition, Stephen Whitfield, as a partner in London.
The move sees him rejoin the firm, where he was an associate, ahead of Taylor Wessing’s UK arm’s planned transatlantic merger with Winston & Strawn, which is expected to go live in May.
He is the third partner Taylor Wessing UK has hired since the merger deal was announced in December.
Whitfield has extensive experience in large-scale UK, EU and international merger control matters, cartel investigations and competition litigation.
He joins a London competition team that is led by Paolo Palmigiano, former general counsel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Japanese manufacturer Sumitomo Electric Industries. Winston & Strawn’s international managing partner, London-based Peter Crowther, is also an experienced antitrust lawyer.
Shane Gleghorn, Taylor Wessing’s UK managing partner, praised Whitfield’s “outstanding track record”, saying that his mixed practice made him “an excellent addition to our team and will create substantial opportunities across our practices and sectors internationally”.
While Taylor Wessing UK has a strong life sciences and regulatory practice with related antitrust insights and trade expertise, Whitfield’s arrival will directly support the London corporate and M&A offering and enable further practice growth.
Sian Skelton, head of tech and regulatory, said Whitfield would bring an “exceptional breadth of expertise at a time when the global competition regulation landscape is rapidly evolving”, with reforms currently under consultation to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA’s) merger control regime just one aspect of that evolution.
She added: “Stephen’s ability to handle the full range of competition matters whilst collaborating with our teams in our core practice areas and across key sectors will significantly enhance our service offering.”
Whitfield joined Travers Smith from Taylor Wessing as an associate in 2011, made partner in 2016 and rose to head of competition in 2024, succeeding Nigel Seay. During his short tenure as head of competition, he oversaw the opening of Travers Smith’s Brussels office, which was announced in March 2025.
His departure leaves Seay, who leads the Brussels office, and Ingrid Hodgskiss, who was promoted to the partnership in 2024, in charge of Travers Smith’s antitrust team. A Travers Smith spokesperson said: “We would like to thank Stephen for his contribution to the firm and wish him the best for his future.”
Taylor Wessing UK’s hire of Whitfield comes hard on the heels of last week’s unveiling of tax specialist Gemma Grunewald as a new partner. She is moving across from DLA Piper.
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