Recently promoted to partner, Siobhán Langwade, tech and life sciences specialist at Taylor Wessing, has just entered the next stage of her career. She tells Jo Russell about her plans for the future

When did becoming an M&A lawyer first appeal?

While at law school, I’d set my sights on being an M&A lawyer in the City. However, the fallout from the 2008 downturn meant that getting a City training contract was hard, so I accepted one in a small regional firm with a view to getting qualified – I knew I needed to gain more M&A experience before approaching City law firms.
I went to Stevens & Bolton in Guildford in 2014. It was a great stepping stone, with a lot of ex-City lawyers doing good-quality work. I did a couple of deals where Taylor Wessing was on the other side of the table and I was attracted to its clients. It was very entrepreneurial, creating disruptive technologies in a growing sector. I joined Taylor Wessing in 2015.

What deals have helped to shape your career?

At Stevens & Bolton, I worked on a large deal concerning a fintech company that had created a payment technology just as there was huge growth in online payments. It secured investment from an American VC, which made five times its investment within two years. I found that incredible and it made me want to be part of that sector.

My first Taylor Wessing deal was acting for a client buying a football club, where I saw the importance of having a real understanding of the business being bought. It was a lesson in the softer side of corporate deals.

What is your role now?

I was promoted to partner in May 2021. I’m in the corporate technology and life sciences team, which is part of the corporate group. My focus is on M&A and I normally have two M&A deals in full swing at any one time.

I also have some investment work, as it’s important to keep up to date with market practice. It makes you a better M&A lawyer because you understand the process that the company has gone through to get to that point of exit.

I also have ad hoc enquiries from longstanding clients.

Why focus on the technology sector?

Doing so has paid dividends. Our lifecycle advisory work means we can support clients from seed-round investment through to exit. That can be a long process. Companies are staying private for longer than they used to, with more money being invested. Holding on to those relationships is very important.

We have a strong US client base, made up of mainly West Coast companies looking for European assets to buy.

What recent deal stands out?

One of our big US West Coast clients, which specialises in customer experience management, had two deals that it wanted to run concurrently. We had a four-week timeline to close them both.

One, buying a UK VC-backed company that had around 150 shareholders, was probably the largest deal the client had ever done. The other, buying a company from two shareholders in Europe, was most likely the smallest deal.

They were two very different transactions, with different nuances, running simultaneously – a challenge that thankfully came off.

What are your targets as partner?

My business plan is to grow our M&A practice. We have such a wealth of data within our team from deals we’ve done in the UK and internationally. I want to use that data to go to the market to show our expertise and experience.

Hopefully there will be a desire to build, or rebuild relationships that might have been lost over the past year because of the COVID-19 crisis. To support that, we have to grow our team, making sure we’re recruiting, retaining and training the best talent.