Pinsent Masons
No of Partners: 247
No of Assistant Solicitors: 485
Other Fee Earners: 143
www.pinsentmasons.com
Pinsent Masons, the result of the 1995 merger between Leeds’ Simpson Curtis and Birmingham’s Pinsent & Co, has long been considered the most ‘blue chip’ adviser of the national firms. It has had to work hard to protect this reputation in recent years as its most obvious rivals have made significant progress in developing their FTSE client-bases.
Almost 10 years on, Leeds is now home to almost a third of the firm’s fee-earners, (162 of 552). Its main strengths are in corporate, banking, employment, property, tax, dispute resolution and projects/commercial and it has a client list that combines local heroes such as Pace, Filtronic Comtek and construction company the Clugston Group. Add to this list national and international concerns such as Barclays, BOC Group, CGNU, HBOS, Argos, Tesco, British Telecom and NM Rothschild.
However, the firm prefers not to think of its structure purely in terms of legal disciplines, but instead, since 2000, has developed a ‘Chosen Markets’ approach. This process sees the firm identifying areas of the economy within which it has set itself the target of becoming a leading firm. Initially 9 in number, these were refined down to 6 in 2003. The Chosen Markets the firm now focuses on are financial services and insurance; government; manufacturing; real estate; services and technology.
Within each market, the firm then chooses particular sectors to focus on. For example, within the government market, the emphasis is on the NHS, education, housing, central departments and local departments. Each chosen market is served by cross-disciplinary teams to serve specific sectors. They believe the benefit of this is that the firm is designed around the needs of its clients rather than the clients having to fit in with the law firm’s way of working.
The firm also made its long-awaited debut in Manchester in 2001, when it took a private equity team from local firm Chaffe Street. This gives Pinsent Masons a presence in all of the major legal centres – Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester and London.
However, it is not clear whether the firm’s London strategy is yet complete. Having originally opened a greenfield London practice, the firm bought in additional capacity in the capital through a takeover of corporate boutique Biddle in 2001. However, the search for greater strength in the City goes on, with the firm most recently in (ultimately unsuccessful) talks with Nicholson Graham & Jones. Internationally, the firm has alliances with 3 firms covering Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, Poland and Estonia.
As well as strengthening these alliances, Pinsent Masons plans to grow across its 4 UK offices and is looking for lawyers with a commercial approach who are “good team players who can drive our business forward.” Key adjectives to emphasise on the CV when applying are ‘creative’, ‘proactive’ and [commercially] ‘astute’.
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