Andrew Leaitherland, the former CEO of law firm DWF, is the latest guest on The Dealmaker Uncut Podcast.
In a far-reaching interview with the show’s co-hosts Jonathan Boyers and Chris Maguire, Leaitherland reflects on his time at DWF and the success of his tech-enabled law firm arch.law.
Under his leadership, DWF Group grew from 450 people to over 4,300 across 33 offices world-wide and turnover from under £30m to more than £330m.
When he oversaw the 2019 IPO, DWF become the UK’s largest listed law firm – but within a year he’d left in a boardroom shake-up at the start of Covid.
He returned to launch arch.law in 2021 and has doubled revenue every year since and grown staff numbers to 135 in three countries
In the podcast Leaitherland speaks about his 26 career acquisitions; his decision to go for a listing on the main market; his shock exit from DWF; his return – and why he couldn’t be happier.
Describing his biggest achievements at DWF he said: “When I first started in the role of managing partner people used to say ‘DW who…?’. By the time I left the brand had become globally recognised in the legal sector.”
Leaitherland insisted he didn’t haven’t time for any ill will about his 2020 exit from DWF as he launched arch.law in 2021.
“arch.law is a tech-enabled law firm that happens to pay people in a different way,” he said. “As all of our tech is brand new, we aren’t constrained by outdated infrastructure with the products we use … which leads to lots of exciting possibilities.”
Asked about his feeling about growing a company second time around he said: “Exhilarating, energising .. need I go on? There is something really rewarding about going again but with the benefit of years of accumulated knowledge. You scale faster with far better returns as your experience means significantly less mistakes.”
Boyers is the head of Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Finance team and Maguire is BusinessCloud’s executive editor.
The Dealmaker Uncut has been riding high in podcast charts around the world.
It been produced by Manchester-based What Media and previous guests include gaming legend Paul Gouge; Travel Counsellors CEO Steve Byrne; Clare Roberts OBE, CEO and founder of Kids Planet; Graham Donoghue, CEO of Forge Holiday Group, and the ‘Mr Money’ of deals Barry Nightingale.
Listen here