Duncan Weston

Experience & Background

Duncan Weston is a Doctor of Business Management and Innovation. He has 25 years’ experience in managing professional service firms and he is currently the Executive Partner of CMS, one of the top 10 global elite firms providing law and tax services worldwide. He and the executive team are responsible for steering the firms’ global strategy and its business development.

Formerly a Managing Partner of CMS in London, Weston was responsible for seeing the UK firm through the global financial crisis and was the architect of a number of mergers – including the largest three-way UK merger with the firms of Olswang and Nabarro. During his eight years as Managing Partner, the profits of the firm increased considerably and the business grew substantially.

Under his leadership, the firm opened offices in Brazil, Russia, China, Turkey, and the Middle East. It was also a period of change and innovation, introducing new processes and technologies to the business – including the groundbreaking outsourcing to Integreon and the relocation of the firm to a new cutting-edge office in London.

Prior to this, Weston was a leading private equity lawyer, bringing his characteristic dynamic and innovative approach to deals. He was also head of the European Private Equity Group specialising in cross-border investment in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2006, he was named by Private Equity International as one of the 30 most influential private equity lawyers in the world. He moved to Prague, and later to Geneva, where he managed and led the large-scale expansion of the firm’s Central and Eastern European Practice, bringing together some 400 lawyers across eight jurisdictions in 12 regional practices and sector groups.

More recently, in 2021, he received a doctorate in digital business model innovation for professional service firms at the Dauphine University in Paris. This was the inspiration for Lupl, which he co-founded in 2019 as the first open industry platform in legal matter synchronisation for legal departments and law firms globally.

Weston was also a founding partner of the CMS Academy, in partnership with IMD business School, a pioneer of training, learning, and development across CMS.

Expertise & Interests

Digital business models, organization, digitalization, globalization, collaboration, legal industry.