Pinsent Masons journey – what’s changed in the past four years?

From September 2014 – June 2015 I worked for Pinsent Masons as part of the Gap Year Programme, where I was based in the P&E E&I team in Glasgow. Fast forward four years (as a LLB graduate!) and I returned to the firm to undertake the Vacation Placement, this time in the Employment team. The biggest question I had when returning was: what’s changed?

Purpose

Pinsent Masons is now a Purpose-led firm. Over the course of my placement, I learned that by having a Purpose, Pinsents is able to define itself within the legal market and is a distinctive feature of the firm. It tells people who Pinsent Masons are as a firm and what is at the heart of their work. The Purpose also fits in nicely with the firms Values and Code, and together they establish how the firm operates on a day-to-day basis.

Champion change, promote progress and enable everyone to make business work better for people.

International Reach

The biggest change I’ve noticed since 2015 is the firm’s international expansion, including office openings in Perth, Australia and Johannesburg, Africa. There have also been new offices established across Europe, including Dublin and a third office in Germany. This is very fitting for the firms vision: to be recognised as an international market leader across their global sectors.

Pinsent Masons have also introduced Stride, the firm’s international secondment programme for qualified solicitors. The programme could be particularly appealing to those who studied another language as some of the secondments available require fluency in the location’s language. This is another way in which Pinsent Masons are dedicated to providing services internationally and allowing its people to develop their cultural awareness.

Responsible Business

The firm has also continued to promote diversity within the workplace. Sky is very much part of this strategy, whereby the firm is actively promoting gender equality at senior leadership level. The original recommendations for the initiative were produced in 2013, so I was excited to return to Pinsents to see their impact. I was delighted to hear the firm reached its first milestone of 25% female partners one year ahead of schedule this year. As a young woman trying to pursue a career in commercial law, it’s great to know Pinsents are encouraging more women to break through the glass ceiling.

Of course, Sky is not the only initiative the firm has developed to promote D&I. On my placement I was fortunate enough to attend the Sun Roadshow: a presentation on the firm’s new D&I initiative focusing on race and ethnicity. I found this particularly interesting because prior to my placement, I wasn’t aware of any large commercial firms with a D&I strategy solely focusing on race and ethnicity; Pinsents is truly paving the way with Sun.

Overall, the Vacation Placement has given me a real insight into the distinctive features of Pinsents and how the firm is continuing to find ways to make bold decisions whilst staying connected to its people and clients.