Bermudian-based law firm Taylors, in association with Walkers, has been included in International Financial Law Review’s Firms to Watch listing.

It is one of 43 international law firms included in the supplement, which is a spin-off from the IFLR1000, a guide to the world’s leading financial law firms.

The Firms to Watch supplement is designed to highlight firms that have been developing in interesting ways, drawn from the thousands of firms that are researched by the IFLR1000 team last year.

Kevin Taylor, managing partner, said: “It is pleasing to see the hard work the team has put in being recognised by the international press. Taylors has gone from strength to strength since it opened in 2016 and we expect more success in 2018.”

Taylors opened in Bermuda in 2016. The firm began with two corporate partners but now employs five. It primarily works on M&A and financing transactions, with some significant restructuring and capital markets work as well.

The Firms to Watch supplement stated: “In the short time Taylors has been present in Bermuda, it has established itself as an important regional player. The firm has seized a large portion of the local market share, a particularly impressive accomplishment not only because of the firm’s age but also the general difficulty in luring clients from legacy law firms in this location.”

It also noted that Taylors went from being an unranked form in the IFLR1000 in 2017 to Bermuda’s second tier in the 2018 rankings.

Important hires mentioned by the supplement include Ariane West, who joined after five years at fellow Bermudian firm Wakefield Quin, and corporate associate Phelecia Barnett who was previously with Bennett Jones’ Bermuda office.

A number of the firm’s recent transactional highlights are included in the supplement, such as Taylors acting as Bermuda counsel for the SoftBank Vision Fund in connection with its $1.1 billion equity investment in healthcare therapies developer Roivant Sciences last August.

It also noted that Taylors has made “notable inroads in the mining and oil and gas sectors, advising clients in connection with a number of sizeable financing transactions in the two industries over the last couple of years”.

In addition, this year IFLR ranked partner Jonathan Betts in “Market Leaders”, one of only two Bermudan lawyers to receive the accolade. Ms West was ranked “highly regarded”.

Taylors is associated with Walkers, which was founded in 1964 and has offices in offshore locations such as Jersey, the Cayman Islands, and the British Virgin Islands. It also has European branches in the UK and Ireland, together with Asia-Pacific offices in Hong Kong and Singapore, and a Middle East branch in Dubai.