Putting the masons back in Pinsent Masons
Trainees tell us Pinsents is “becoming more of a City firm, while shedding its image as just a national firm,” but in our humble opinion it would be wrong to cast Pinsent Masons as anything but a national outfit. Sure, London is the largest office and the firm's global HQ, but between them, Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham take on more trainees. There are also offices in Bristol, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the firm's national breadth is reflected in the fact it clocks up a whopping 86 rankings in Chambers UK. A merger with Scots-founded firm McGrigors in May 2012 saw Pinsents expand its reach even further.
A small international network of offices in Dubai, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore and Hong Kong was supplemented by a tie-up with European firm Salans in 2009. There were rumours of a merger between the two at first, but they seem to have fizzled out. The firm seems to like this kind of 'no strings' relationship – in 2011 it cosied up to China's Hesen Law Firm, forming an alliance which it hopes will boost construction opportunities in the People's Republic.
Before we go on, we'll let a trainee have a bit of a dig at us: “In last year's True Picture on us, there didn't seem to be much emphasis on construction. But Masons [which merged with Pinsents in December 2004] was a massive construction firm and I think construction is still our biggest earner. There aren't many firms with a big construction practice.” So let's reiterate: PM is a massive construction firm. Based on its Chambers UK rankings, it has the best and biggest national construction practice in the country.
Seat construction
At the time of our calls London had 53 trainees, Birmingham had 28, Leeds had 26 and Manchester 15. There's a separate Scottish trainee group too, who we don't cover here. Barring secondments, trainees tend to stick to their 'home' office for the duration of their training contract. Although they do work with people in other offices, this is often because there is need for extra staffing on a certain matter rather than because there are lots of cross-office deals. Projects, construction and corporate are the departments to be in if you want international work. “I worked quite closely with our Chinese offices,” one corporate trainee told us. As for the Salans alliance, some trainees said they had “never had any contact with a Salans lawyer,” while others had: “It was the same as working with our own lawyers in another office.”
PM is officially split into five core practice groups: projects and construction; corporate and tax; property; financial institutions and human capital; and strategic business services (SBS). Each department offers several seat options. There's also a new 'sectorised' system in which every lawyer focuses on a certain client sector, be it manufacturing, public sector, real estate, technology, banking, insurance or whatever. However, this sectorisation doesn't appear to affect trainees much.
Sources said the seat allocation system is “fairly transparent” but that “sometimes the firm tries to railroad you into a certain area.” One source grumbled: “Sometimes people end up in a seat they didn't want, while someone else had the same one as their first choice.” We should also point out that many trainees do get their first or second seat choices. We get the impression that – besides the limitations of business needs – PM likes its trainees to do a wide variety of seats. Trainees also told us they are always able to have a chat with graduate recruitment manager Ed Walker if they want.
If you build it they will come
Projects and construction is split into projects and transactional services (PTS) and dispute resolution services (DRS). Within that there are further international and UK subgroups. Seats in these teams are fairly popular and also quite common. PM lawyers have advised on major projects including the widening of the M25, the £550m East London Line upgrade, the construction of the new Wembley Stadium and the Earls Court regeneration. Clients include developers and public sector organisations, and an increasing number of energy businesses. “It's really cool to be involved with stuff that gets talked about in the papers, and to go along to client and site meetings,” one London trainee told us. A colleague from the regions added: “As the trainee, I started with the proof-reading, but as you prove yourself you will get drafting work.” Bear in mind that construction disputes and deals often take a loooong time to complete, so a six-month seat is not usually enough time to see one through.
The property department, which offers commercial property, planning and environment, and property litigation seats, is “quite busy” and has been actively hiring in 2011. Its lawyers have advised Newcastle City Council on various components of the £450m regeneration of the Scotswold area of the city. It has also acted for Waitrose on the creation of a new wave of stores. Though we heard property seats are not particularly popular choices, the group is known for being “friendly,” and gives trainees good work like “drafting leases and licences, negotiating legal documents, ringing clients and doing stamp duty applications for HMRC.” One source said: “I have about 30 files of my own and on bigger deals I'm not treated as an admin assistant, but as a real part of the team.”
Corporate is another common and “surprisingly popular” seat option. The London team has a strong mid-market reputation and is especially known for its AIM work. It recently advised a group of Chinese investors on a $185m investment in the AIM-quoted Oxus Gold. Outside the City there's a greater focus on plcs and private equity, with clients including John Lewis, E.ON and Barclays Private Equity. Trainees admit they don't get the highest levels of exposure in this seat. “I do typical trainee tasks,” said one, “organising completion meetings, handling due diligence, doing company searches, getting documents put in a data room and putting bibles together.” Corporate trainees “tend to get heavily hammered on the hours – some people haven't had a weekend in three or four weeks.” One source put this in a positive light: “You get less drafting and research, but I have been able to develop my organisational skills.” There is also a separate tax seat.
Planes, trains and postmen
The financial institutions and human capital group offers seats in financial services and insurance; employment; pensions; and banking and restructuring. The London team advised Halfords on the refinancing of a £300m loan from four banks, while Birmingham lawyers worked for Santander and RBS on a £45m loan to Birmingham International Airport. Trainees do the “dogsbody work like bundling and other paperwork,” but do get client contact as well. The employment team dealt with the employment issues related to ASDA's takeover of Netto UK, while its other clients include several universities, household-name retailers and financial institutions. Trainees receive “lots of tribunal experience,” though they “don't get their own files.” Instead they “assist with other people's cases, draft responses to claims and review contracts.”
The seats available in strategic business services are dispute resolution, commercial/ICT, competition and outsourcing. General dispute resolution clients include insurers, household-name brands like Müller and Avon Cosmetics, and major corporations like Shell, Vodafone and train manufacturer Bombardier. A trainee told us: “I have worked on a couple of smaller cases, where I get more involved with drafting particulars of claim and building relations with the clients. We also do some huge disputes for media and tech clients, where you do your fair share of bundling and preparing for trial.” ICT clients include the Home Office, the MoD, Siemens and Fuijtsu. The team recently advised Royal Mail on the public procurement of its £120m e-business programme.
We've mentioned that the London corporate team in particular has punishing hours, but even in other teams, there are “partners who love their jobs too much” and will expect late nights. This is not the norm, though, and in the likes of real estate and construction the schedule is less demanding, with our contacts telling us they generally arrived between 8.45 and 9.30am and left between 6.30 and 7.30pm.
Secondments are available at clients including AXA, John Lewis, Cable & Wireless, Carrilion, and provide an “amazing” experience. Overseas seats in Dubai, and occasionally elsewhere, are also up for grabs.
The Masonic lodges
We were waiting for a Tube at Waterloo not so long ago and found ourselves standing opposite a Pinsent Masons billboard ad. It featured the slogan 'We couldn't miss the opportunity' above a cartoon of a rhinoceros with an enormous horn eyeing up a zookeeper’s bottom (he was bending over to tie up his shoelace – the keeper, that is, not the rhino). The point of the advert was to highlight the fact that Pinsents has moved into swanky new London premises in Crown Place, near Liverpool Street station. To be honest, we're not quite clear why the firm feels that a picture of a cheeky rhino best illustrates this message, but ours not to reason why and all that. What we do know is that the office move is a clear attempt to up PM's profile as a City firm. “It's very slick and modern, a great big glass tower with views in all directions and all the way out to Wembley,” trainees told us. There's an enigmatic “multi-function room” which is used for yoga, pilates, gym and – most recently – a beauty service. There's also a Costa franchise, a “good” cafeteria and showers, which have, of all things, “complimentary hair straighteners.” A change of office often means a change in office culture. “Maybe it's becoming more serious,” one trainee mused. “We have lost our dress-down Friday.” Another was not so sure 'more serious' was the right phrase to use, but did feel that “it tends to be 'heads down and get on with your work' here. There is not that much banter in the workplace. It's quite relaxed – people don't wear ties – but it's not a joke-a-minute sort of place.” Although there are firm socials “they don't happen that often” and “the London office isn't massively into socialising as a whole.” But there is “a good trainee scene,” and the younger crowd frequent The White Horse on Exchange Square. Some departments also have monthly drinks where “everyone starts to gets a bit merry from 6pm onwards.”
Pinsent's regional trainees wouldn't mind us saying they like a bit of a party. The Manchester office hosts “drinks every Friday. You can sip free warm Peroni and see people from departments you don't otherwise see. Normally it's quite well attended.” Trainees say their superiors are pretty approachable. “We are always talking about The Apprentice and showbiz stuff. There is a good day-to-day fun feel,” one Manchester source told us. “We have this values programme about being nice to each other and aiming to be the best you can be – but it is stuff that everyone is doing anyway!” The Manchester office is in the flash new Spinningfields development, while the Birmingham and Leeds offices are both in their respective city centres, although unlike London and Manchester, they are “due a refurb.”
Across all offices there are cricket, hockey, five-a-side football, netball and frisbee (!) teams. Trainees are also really into charity fund-raising events. We were told of a Wii-bowling competition, an “X Factor-style event at a karaoke club” and a “treasure hunt through central Birmingham organised by the property department.” Other trainees go to local schools to help children with reading, maths and careers advice. In Birmingham lawyers also attend a business advice clinic for businesses who can't afford a lawyer.
Pre-recession, Pinsent Masons generally posted good retention rates, but 2009 and 2010 were a rotten couple of years and the number of second-year trainees the firm kept on plummeted. Fortunately for 2011's qualifiers, things were slightly better and 41 out of 56 of them were retained as NQs.
And finally...
This firm has a “good vibe” about it and the training contract is “solid across the board.”