Taylor Wessing’s UK and Benelux arms have announced four partner promotions ahead of their deal to join forces with US firm Winston & Strawn.
The four lawyers, who hail from London, Dubai and Eindhoven, are set to become Winston Taylor partners when the new transatlantic firm comes into being next month.
Promotions across the components of the Taylor Wessing verein not taking part in the merger, which include Taylor Wessing Germany and Taylor Wessing France, will be announced on 1 May.
Last year the combined offices promoted nine to partner, the smallest round since 2020.
Two of the new partners announced today are based in London – IP lawyer Alison Cole, who leads the brand portfolio practice, and real estate partner Shilpa Vaswani, who is co-head of the firm’s India group, having taken over from former disputes partner Lawrence Lieberman, who joined Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in November 2024.
Corporate partner Mohammed Tartir has been promoted in Dubai, while the firm also announced the retrospective promotion of Dutch IP lawyer Margot van Gerwen in Eindhoven back in January.
The firms also announced 14 promotions to senior counsel and six to counsel across its key practice areas, including corporate, disputes, regulatory, IP, real estate and banking and finance, spanning a greater number of offices, with London prominent among the senior counsel and the Netherlands prominent among the counsel.
UK managing partner Shane Gleghorn said: “We are delighted to announce our 2026 cohort of new partners and senior counsel, whose expertise and leadership will play a vital role in delivering the highest levels of service to our clients. I look forward to working alongside them as we help the world’s most innovative people and businesses to navigate the opportunities and challenges ahead.
“As we embark on our next chapter as Winston Taylor, these talented individuals will be central to the combined firm’s ambition to be a transatlantic powerhouse.”
The combination with Winston & Strawn will create a firm with more than 1,400 lawyers across 20 global offices and revenue in the region of £1.2bn. Winston Taylor will operate in the US, the UK, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, focusing on commercial dispute resolution and transactional work, including property, strategic IP and private wealth.
Taylor Wessing’s UK LLP has been actively recruiting ahead of the merger, with the marquee hire of Jeremy Drew from RPC, alongside senior partner hires in real estate tax, competition law and media law in London.
Last August, the Benelux firm hired a five-lawyer IP team from Simmons & Simmons.
The firm’s French and German offices intend to continue operating under the Taylor Wessing brand after May’s merger, having signed a cooperation agreement with Winston Taylor to “ensure shared client work and cooperation with mutual clients will continue as normal” once the merger goes live.
Taylor Wessing also decoupled its Hong Kong office last year, which now practises independently under a similar agreement.
Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]
