Pinsent Masons appoints inaugural COO and external board member

Pauline Egan joins the firm's global Board as a Non-Executive Board Member. She will combine that role with a Non-Executive appointment at the UK subsidiary of Allied Irish Bank and the Governorship of Morley College. Prior to these roles Pauline enjoyed a highly successful career at the Royal Bank of Canada where she worked as Head of London and most recently Head of Strategy & Business Management for the Wealth Management Division.

Alastair Mitchell is a Chartered Accountant (FCA) who has worked in professional services for over 30 years.  The bulk of his career to date has been with Linklaters for whom he worked between 1999 to 2012, and spent five years serving as the firm's UK Chief Operating Officer. Alastair joins from Holman Fenwick Willam (HFW) which he joined in 2012 as COO. He will be Pinsent Masons' first COO and will sit on the firm's Operations Committee.

The appointments continue the process of modernising the firm's leadership structures to ensure that the Pinsent Masons business remains agile and responsive to client needs following a period of sustained growth. They also follow the appointment of Rainer Kreifels and Joanne Ellis to the Pinsent Masons board in November last year.

Richard Foley, Senior Partner at Pinsent Masons, says:

"We have made significant progress towards achieving our vision of being recognised as international market leader in our global sectors. However, there is much more to do. There is significant evidence that organisations which have an external viewpoint to test and challenge at Board level outperform those that do not, and I welcome Pauline in that capacity. She has impressive commercial credentials and international experience which make her a strong addition to our Board. Alastair is also a highly impressive individual whose focus will be on the efficient and effective running of our business operations on an international scale. He will work closely with our Managing Partner,  John Cleland and will be an asset to our business as we continue to build on our market leading reputation for innovation and excellence in the delivery of legal services."

The appointments also follow the announcement of the appointment of 18 individuals to partner in the firm's latest promotion round, which takes effect from 1 May and brings the total number of partners at the firm to over 400.