Olswang

Olswang Profile & Stats

Established only 30 years ago, Olswang LLP has swiftly blossomed from a boutique media firm into a robust business law firm; best known for its expertise in the real estate, technology, media and finance sectors as well as its meritocratic and unstuffy culture. The firm has won the praise of its acclaimed clients, and acts for firms including the Guardian, ITV, Lloyds, Microsoft, MTV, Nationwide and Warner Music International.

Olswang is certainly used to dealing with stars, but now the tables have turned and the firm is hiring them. Much to the chagrin of other leading City firms, Olswang has employed an aggressive lateral hire strategy over recent years to augment its core practice areas of litigation, corporate, real estate, finance, IP and commercial.

Olswang was founded in 1981 by Simon Olswang and Mark Devereux. Although initially setting out on a media and corporate bent – focussing on TV, film and advertising – the mid-1980s brought the addition of two new practice areas: litigation and real estate. The firm grew rapidly through the 1990s, and expanded into a full service firm operating in numerous sectors: broadcasting, climate change & cleantech, film, gambling, internet & E-Commerce, leisure, life sciences, marketing services, music, publishing, real estate, sport and telecommunications. The firm’s significant presence in the corporate realm is now responsible for over 20% of its total turnover.

In an attempt to ditch the firm’s historically boutique image, Olswang set up a salvo of international links. Offices in Brussels, Berlin, Madrid and Paris, with a Singapore office due to open next year, give the firm an international flavour, alongside a long-established preferred firm network of leading independent law firms across the globe.

Fee-earners at the firm have also expanded Olswang’s online presence with a foray into the blogosphere. Fashionista-at-law details legal and business goings on in, you guessed it, the fashion industry. Posts are by no means under the radar and Fashionista has been invited to several London Fashion Week shows. Elsewhere, +Technology is “developing a network of like minded business people who are concerned with the ongoing impact of technology to their business”. The network’s blog widely revolves around tech news and happenings.

Olswang also looks to shine outside its glitzy international offices by getting its fee earners involved in lasting and valuable pro bono and volunteering work. The firm’s HELP programme is comprised of partnerships with a diverse number of organisations and charities – aimed at helping anyone from students to the homeless. To achieve this, Olswang encourages fee earners to spend up to 5% of their chargeable time and non-fee earners to spend up to 3.5 hours per month working on such initiatives. The firm’s altruistic projects include providing free legal advice to the Elephant Parade (which contributes to the conservation of the Asian Elephant), pro bono advice to Breakthrough Breast Cancer, and working with students in local schools through the Lawyers in Schools programme.