- What is happening?
- When will it take effect?
- How many legal professionals and offices will Gowling WLG have?
- Why are you creating this new international legal practice, and how will it benefit clients?
- What will the leadership structure of Gowling WLG be?
- Where will Gowling WLG be headquartered?
- What will be the official language of Gowling WLG?
- What is your vision for Gowling WLG?
1. What is happening?
Gowlings, a leading Canadian law firm, and Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co (WLG), a leading U.K. law firm, are joining forces to create a new international legal practice called Gowling WLG.
2. When will it take effect?
Gowling WLG will launch in January 2016.
3. How many legal professionals and offices will Gowling WLG have?
Gowling WLG will have more than 1,500 legal professionals in 18 cities across Canada, the U.K., Europe, Asia and the Middle East, making it a Global 100 legal practice from day one.
4. Why are you creating this new international legal practice?
The reason we’re doing this to serve our clients better — in Canada, the U.K. and around the world. Our clients will benefit from a broader range of services, a deeper pool of legal expertise across key international industry sectors, and a greater ability to provide them with multi-jurisdictional support.
Gowling WLG will:
- Provide world-class legal expertise and multi-jurisdictional support in key global sectors, including life sciences, advanced manufacturing, power generation and distribution, projects and infrastructure, real estate, resources (mining, oil & gas), and technology and communications.
- Create one of the world’s premier intellectual property practices, and offer a full suite of business law and litigation services.
- Be a global leader in innovation, creativity and flexibility in legal service delivery.
- Deliver the same high level of personal, responsive service and value as its founding firms — our rates, our service and our client focus won’t change.
- Continue to embrace the people-first culture and approach of WLG and Gowlings, which have both been repeatedly recognized as top employers in their respective markets.
5. What will the leadership structure of Gowling WLG be?
Gowling WLG will be governed by an international board comprising each of the founding firms’ CEOs and two additional members appointed by each founding firm.
6. Where will Gowling WLG be headquartered?
Gowling WLG will not be headquartered in any one office. Our clients will be able to engage the office or offices that work best for them, and can be confident that they will receive the same world-class legal expertise, personal, responsive service, and outstanding value no matter where they choose to work with us.
7. What will be the official language of Gowling WLG?
Gowling WLG will not have an official operating language. We will operate in a diverse range of languages in accordance with the needs of our clients and the geographic regions we serve.
8. What is your vision for Gowling WLG?
Our vision is to build one of the top sector-focused legal practice in the world. In the coming years, we will continue to expand our global platform in strategic areas by adding other like-minded law firms to Gowling WLG, with complementary sector, practice and geographic strengths.