Following his initial appointment as Taylor Wessing’s firmwide managing partner in 2018, and his reappointment in 2021, Shane Gleghorn has been re-elected for another three-year term, starting from October.
After succeeding Tim Eyles, who served as managing partner for nine years, Gleghorn (pictured) has overseen significant growth during his tenure. Global revenue has climbed by more than 40% from £340m in 2018-19 to £480.7m in 2023-24, while UK revenue has seen an even more impressive rise, up almost 60% from £157m to £247m over the same period.
This January the firm held its latest UK partner conference in Liverpool, at which Gleghorn – who was reappointed unopposed – outlined his plans for the firm over this third term. He focused on two key areas: the short-term outlook for the business, including expectations for the final quarter of the current financial year; and the firm’s three-year strategy, which was launched last year.
A central plank of this strategy is an ambitious goal of reaching €1bn (£840m) in revenue by 2028-29, which would require growth of almost 80% over that period.
‘Achieving this would be a significant milestone for us. While it’s an ambitious goal, we believe it’s attainable,’ said Gleghorn. ‘To reach it, we’ll need to focus not only on organic growth, but also on strategic lateral hiring, acquisitions, and expanding into new geographic markets. We have a detailed plan in place to achieve these objectives and drive our growth trajectory forward.’
‘This is an important time to be involved in setting the strategy for the firm, because the legal market is opening up to fast-growing firms who are focused on a set of high-value practices,’ he added.
Under Gleghorn’s leadership, the firm has made 42 lateral partner hires, with global lawyer headcount now standing at 1,253 globally. This summer, the firm welcomed RPC partner Parham Kouchikali to its international disputes and investigations practice, and took on Addleshaw Goddard’s Leona Ahmed for its international real estate group.
Other notable developments under Gleghorn’s watch include expansion into the Middle East, such as the 2022 hire of Abdullah Mutawi from Al Tamimi to head its MENA corporate team. The firm has also strengthened its presence in Ireland with the hires of Addleshaws finance and projects head Libby Garvey and DWF real estate partner Órlaith Molloy in Dublin.
‘Our partners believe that achieving scale – while maintaining high profitability – across the major markets is necessary to succeed to be amongst the leading global firms in our key sectors and practice areas. We are going to be very busy growing, which makes it a business that is filled with interest and opportunities for our leaders.’
Iberia has also been a key focus for Gleghorn, with last year’s strategic alliance with Madrid-based ECIJA which has a large network of offices across Latin America and the Iberian peninsula – serving as a key step forward.
‘It has opened a lot of doors for both firms,’ he said. ‘It has enabled us to pitch together for several mandates that, perhaps, a few years ago would not have been available to either firm. We are delighted with the client reaction to having that wider expertise in Iberia and Latin America more seamlessly available to them.’
On the possibility of a fourth term in leadership, Gleghorn commented: ‘If you ask me now, do I enjoy the role? That’s sort of a prerequisite for wanting to run. I love the job. It’s a privilege to be involved in the running of the business and to be involved in setting strategy with others.’
‘I do very much enjoy the role, but as to where my mind will be in three years, I really don’t think I can fix my speculative eye on that far forward,’ he added.
Summing up his managerial style in three words, he describes himself as ‘ambitious, consultative and strategic’.
Gleghorn remains actively involved in global client programmes, dedicating much of his time to engaging with GCs and C-suite executives, organising forums to bring clients together.
He describes balancing his managerial responsibilities with client-facing work in the litigation practice as ‘challenging’.
‘I have made a concerted effort to keep client connectivity a priority,’ he adds. ‘This is essential for continuous improvement in our business.’
For more on Shane Gleghorn’s background and approach to leadership, see this Life During Law interview from 2019.
