Pinsent Masons

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Overview

The firm - or, rather, firms - that came to constitute the national legal practice Pinsent Masons have had an eventful few years. Pinsents, which is most often benchmarked against nationally-spread rivals such as Eversheds, DLA Piper and Addleshaw Goddard, has been through a string of sometimes difficult mergers and also faced redundancies, senior departures and flagging profits. The cumulative effect had looked in danger of damaging the position of practices that - as their legacy constituents - would once have been regarded as near the top of the tree.

Likewise, Pinsents has frequently suffered from criticism that its City and international ambitions were suffering because much of its management was based in Birmingham. However, the firm - in 2008 the UK's 15th-largest law firm by fee income - appears to be well into a sustained revival. Some attribute that in part to the influence of senior partner Chris Mullen, who took on the top management role in 2005. The state of that revival has been underlined by the firm recording double-digit turnover growth for three consecutive years, with revenues rising 11% in 2008 to hit £213m, while average equity partner profits were up 6% at £500,000.

The firm, which operates across a broad range of practices and sectors, still faces plenty of competition in the City mid-market but Pinsents has put itself back in contention.

History

The backbone of Pinsent Masons was formed through the 1995 tie-up between Yorkshire practice Simpson Curtis and Birmingham's Pinsent & Co, at the time two of the most respected corporate firms operating outside of London. However, despite looking good on paper the marriage was to prove a difficult union of two equals, as a turf war broke out between two culturally distinct firms. A related issue saw a group of senior lawyers in 1996 quit the firm in Leeds for the local arm of accountancy-tied practice Garretts, which robbed the firm of some of its best up and coming partners.

Matters were not helped when the firm entered abortive merger talks with Birmingham rival Edge Ellison, while Pinsents also struggled during this period to get traction in London despite investing heavily in its City arm in the late 1990s. In response, the firm in January 2001 secured a takeover of London practice Biddle. The 29-partner Biddle gave Pinsents more mass in London, though some argued the firm's strength in pensions and media were not naturally aligned to Pinsents' ambitions in corporate, tax and banking.

The following years were to prove challenging as commercial markets slowed. In this background, the firm hunted for a new London merger, initially talking to the legacy Nicholson Graham & Jones in 2003 only for the talks to collapse in January 2004. Later that year Pinsents entered talks with the London practice Masons, which was best known for its market-leading construction practice and its profile in the IT and outsourcing sectors. Masons had faced problems of its own having made two rounds of redundancies and cut lawyer salaries in 2003. The firm has also lost a number of partners in the run-up to the Pinsents discussions.

Given the differences in their practices, news of the talks caught rivals by surprise (see analysis). However, Pinsents claimed the deal - the largest UK legal merger since the 2000 tie-up between Denton Hall and Wilde Sapte - would give the two firms critical mass and allow Pinsents to cross-sell corporate to Masons' client base. Initially, the omens were not positive after a period in which profits stagnated, morale plainly suffered and evidence of the promised cross-selling was thin on the ground. However, by 2006 Pinsents achieved a sharp rebound in performance (with partner profits rocketing by 71%). This has been matched by a period of stability, some notably client wins and continued growth that has apparently seen the firm deliver on more of the promise of its merger. At present, the firm has more than 270 partners and over 1,000 fee earners in total.

Culture

A bit of a mish-mash given that the firm is the product of so many mergers. The firm is generally regarded as one of the most old-school, gentlemanly partnerships in the UK, particularly in its Birmingham heartlands. Has a reasonable reputation for treating its staff well, though perhaps is still not one of the most open and communicative firms.

Key departments

Still to a considerable extent a corporate-driven firm, Pinsents is nonetheless a full service practice that has gained breadth as it has grown. Tax, employment and property were historically regarded as strong teams, while the Biddle deal further upgraded the firm's pensions practice. Since, the 2004 Masons tie-up, the firm has one of the leading construction practices and is also well represented in IT and outsourcing.

Pinsents is currently structured into the following departments:

• banking and finance;
• corporate;
• dispute resolution & litigation;
• employment;
• insurance & reinsurance;
• international construction & energy;
• outsourcing, technology & commercial;
• pensions;
• projects;
• property;
• tax; and
• UK construction & engineering.

National/international coverage

The national giant is a truly UK-wide concern, with offices in all the major regional markets - Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Bristol - plus offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh, in addition to its City base.

"They seem very quiet on corporate work in Manchester," observes 'Rival'. "While they have spent money on bringing in big-name partners, Pinsents haven't appeared on any of the major deals in the local marketplace."

Internationally, Pinsents operates something of patchwork. The firm has its own offices in Beijing, Brussels, Dubai, Hong Kong and Shanghai. The firm also recently expanded its international capability by spearheading the launch of PMLG, a European-based network of law firms. The group covers Austria, France, Germany, Hungary and the Baltic region.

However, Pinsents in 2007 ended its formal joint venture with US practice Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steinwer, presumably to widen its pool of US referral partners.

Key clients

Clients include Lend Lease Europe Holdings, Alfred McAlpine and Arden Partners. Has arguably the top-tier UK practice in construction, with a string of bluechip clients including John Mowlem & Co, Taylor Woodrow, Shell, Haliburton, AMEC and United Utilities.

Banks the firm has acted for include Barclays, HSBC and Nationwide, while major IT clients include LogicaCMG and Aviva. The firm is also a substantial commercial adviser to Whitehall, with places on the Office of Government Commerce's commercial and PFI/PPP panels.

Leading partners

Career prospects

Not bad. The firm is currently in growth mode and made up 20 partners in 2007. In common with many national firms, the best prospects would appear to be in London, where Pinsents is intent on substantial expansion.

Salaries

"Pinsent Masons do seem to be a 'tight' bunch," says one contributor - apparently not alluding to a sense of close-knit bonhomie among its staff. "Salaries at their regional offices are below Eversheds and DLA [Piper]."

However, newly-qualified lawyers in the City now receive £64,000, which is near to what equivalent lawyers at top London firms receive. Pinsents has been reported to have one of the least generous bonus schemes among its peer group.

Recruitment

Work-life balance

In the middle - there are plenty of worse firms in terms of hours but it is still not a lifestyle firm. Operates an annual billing target of 1,400.

Diversity

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