PINSENTS LAUNCHES IN MADRID
Pinsent Masons has launched in Madrid, the firm’s third international office in less than a year. The new office comprises six partners, four from local Madrid firm Ramón y Cajal Abogados. The firm has also hired from contractor OHL and promoted a Pinsents associate to partner.
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Pinsent Masons is launching its third international office in less than a year with the opening of a Madrid office in May.
The new office comprises six partners, four of whom join Pinsents from local Madrid firm Ramón y Cajal Abogados (RyC). Diego Lozano arrives from the Madrid outfit after acting as head of the firm’s corporate and commercial department. Lozano offers extensive experience in various roles, having served as head of legal services for the tax department in the Spanish ministry of economy. Lozano also worked in-house as deputy general counsel of Telefónica and oversaw its IPO in 2016.
Joining him from RyC is Antonio Montero, an M&A specialist who advised The Coca Cola Company on its merger process to form Coca Cola Partners, in a deal worth nearly €4bn. Also from RyC is Idoya Arteagabeitia, a project finance specialist alongside Imma Castelló whose practice covers M&A, corporate investment and restructuring.
Ricardo Garcia joins the new Madrid office from top 30 global contractor OHL, with significant experience in the infrastructure sector. Pinsents energy and infrastructure disputes associate Sofia Parra completes the initial Madrid line-up, being made up to partner in the move. Parra had been based in London and Dubai.
In the past year Pinsents has also opened offices in Dusseldorf and Johannesburg, in addition to acquiring boutique Munich firm Mayrhofer & Partner.
Pinsents senior partner Richard Foley commented: ‘Our vision is to be recognised as an international market leader in the global sectors in which we operate, and we recognise that we can only do that if we are serious about supporting our clients across key commercial centres. We have found a team in Madrid which not only exudes quality but also shares our sector-focussed vision.’
Earlier this year, Pinsents acquired a 20% stake in New Law outsourcing business Yuzu, which was founded by former Colt group general counsel Robin Saphra.
The firm is providing seed funding and strategic support to start-up Yuzu, which offers clients the opportunity to transfer parts of their legal function out of the business in order to reduce fixed costs and benefit from further training, development and the use of modern technology.
tom.baker@legalease.co.uk
As general counsel continue to face pressure over costs, Pinsent Masons has acquired a 20% stake in New Law outsourcing business Yuzu, which was founded in January by former Colt group general counsel Robin Saphra.
The firm is providing seed funding and strategic support to start-up Yuzu, which offers clients the opportunity to transfer parts of their legal function out of the business in order to reduce fixed costs and benefit from further training, development and the use of modern technology.
Yuzu takes over all or part of a client’s in-house legal work, together with all or part of the team who currently carry out that work. The rest of the in-house team are then freed up to take on more strategic mandates.
According to Saphra (pictured), the type of work that could be done accounts for between 50% and 80% of the in-house legal team’s activity.
‘This could be commercial contracts, employment related work or property transactions. It will definitely tend to be activity that is high-volume and it will tend to be activity where you can bring a degree of process and systems to it to make it work more efficiently – but it is not the kind of work that is done by legal processing outsourcers – it is not just legal process, stuff like document review or low level work. This is the type of work that is core to an in-house legal team.
‘What I’m doing is saying to the in-house counsel: “You don’t need to do this in-house, I can provide a better service at a lower cost and give more investment to this in order to achieve that. And you can focus your activity on the top 10% – 30% of work which is really strategic and really important.”‘
The team which is taken on by Yuzu can be either based onsite with the original in-house team, moved to a remote location near the original site or placed with other teams which have been procured by the start-up. The company is also keen to explore flexible and remote working options as well as leveraging the capability of the team to service multiple clients, much like a law firm.
Alistair Morrison, head of client strategy at Pinsents will have a strategic input and consulting role in the start-up, along with other Pinsents partners.
Speaking to Legal Business Morrison said: ‘This is all very much in the philosophy of incubating and looking to build and develop the Yuzu business. What we have done is made a commitment in terms of the time input, resource and capability from our business in terms of key people helping Robin and the team at Yuzu.’
Although there are currently no direct competitors to Yuzu, the model is similar to the move by General Electric (GE) in January to enter into an outsourcing agreement with Big Four accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. GE is planning to move most of its in-house tax staff to PwC by April.
Meanwhile Pinsents has been a prominent investor in New Law models, founding flexible resourcing business Vario – which last week announced plans to open in Australia – and holding a majority stake in online compliance solutions business Cerico.
kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk
Kirk Murdoch, chairman of Pinsent Masons in Scotland and Northern Ireland, has passed away after a battle with illness.
In a statement released this morning (13 March) Pinsents senior partner Richard Foley said: ‘For very many years, Kirk has been a huge influence in our firm. He was a natural leader and his ambition for the firm – and indeed for the wider Scottish legal profession – marked him out as one of the most distinguished lawyers of his generation.
‘He had an incredibly positive influence in shaping the careers of so many and we will miss him dreadfully. He was unfailingly courteous and thoughtful and was blessed with a great sense of humour. So many of us turned to him for wise counsel. We have lost a great friend and our thoughts and prayers are with his family.’
Murdoch became a partner at Scottish legacy firm McGrigor Donald in 1982. In a legal career spanning over 35 years, Murdoch was a passionate advocate for the Scots legal market while serving as McGrigors’ managing and senior partner, and was largely responsible for securing its status as one of the four premier Scottish firms. Notably he is also heralded as one of the main architects of the groundbreaking merger between McGrigors and Pinsent Masons in 2012, and afterwards ensuring that the Scottish practice of Pinsents played a vital role in the success of the combined firm, which saw it named Law Firm of the Year at the 2016 Legal Business Awards.
Beyond law, Murdoch was a proud Ayshireman and committed sportsman, described as ‘above all a devoted family man, loving partner, and a valued friend to so many – or a true “man o’ pairts” as they say in Ayrshire.’
madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk
An early mover in announcing its 2017 partner promotions, Pinsent Masons has made up 16 partners, including enough female partners to reach its 25% representation target a year early.
The promotions take place from 1 May, with women making up 68% of the new cohort. The round is a slight drop on last year’s promotions, when the firm added 18 new partners.
The firm had set a 25% female partner representation target for the partnership by 2018. Pinsents has now said it will aim for a longer term target of 30% female representation, although a date for that target has yet to be set.
The majority of the new promotions come in the UK, with seven in the City, two in Manchester one apiece from Leeds, Birmingham, Glasgow and Belfast.
Germany gained two new partners, while the firm also made up its first partner in Australia, promoting Sadie Andrew in Sydney, having launched offices in Sydney and Melbourne with five partners in 2015.’
Pinsents senior partner Richard Foley (pictured) said: ‘It is really inspiring to see the talent within our firm flourishing. We have worked hard to ensure a level playing field. All of those who have achieved this personal landmark have done so on merit and share our wider commitment to sector focus, legal excellence and innovation.’
In January, Hogan Lovells appointed three London partners in its 29-strong global promotions round, while 19 were made up in the US.
Pinsent Masons promotions by office
London
Chris Breen, TMT
Alistair Calvert, energy
Sofia Parra Martinez, infrastructure
Gurmukh Riyat, Infrastructure, Energy
Alison Ross Eckford, TMT
Sonal Shah, Infrastructure
Natalie Trainor, TMT
Leeds
John Bruce, Infrastructure
Birmingham
Helen Cordon, TMT
Manchester
Claire Edwards, financial service
Katherine Sneddon, Infrastructure
Belfast
Joanna Robinson, Real Estate
Glasgow
Christine Yuill, Tax
Germany, Munich
Christian Lutkehaus, energy
Kirsten Wolgast, TMT
Australia, Sydney
Sadie Andrew, Infrastructure
Homebase has hired its first legal head, as Clyde & Co, Dentons and Pinsent Masons all make international appointments.
Simone Tudor becomes Homebase’s first dedicated head of legal after joining from retail group AS Watson. Homebase is currently in the process of becoming Bunnings UK & Ireland, with the new company completing its first panel review in November 2016. Herbert Smith Freehills and Dentons were among the firms that made the cut for the company’s inaugural roster.
Clyde & Co has added to its four-partner Dubai shipping practice with the addition of corporate and finance partner Ian Chung. Chung has worked in the Middle East since 2008 where he specialises in corporate and finance work in the international trade, maritime and oilfield services sectors. He joins from Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) in Dubai where he was a partner.
In Europe, both Dentons and Pinsents have improved their German offerings. Pinsents has made a trio of appointments, hiring Alexander Bayer, Peter Koch and Jörg Khöber to bolster its Munich office.
All three of the new recruits join from Gowling WLG, with Bayer arriving as an intellectual property (IP) partner specialising in fintech. Koch joins as a legal director, with a background in cross border patent litigation. Khöber joins as a senior associate.
Pinsents partner and head of German operations, Rainer Kreifels, commented: ‘Our depth of sector expertise has been a major driver of our success and bringing Alexander, Peter and Jörg onto the team continues to strengthen our presence in the market.’
Dentons has strengthened its German team with the appointments of Stefan Dittmer and Amy Kläsener as partners. Dittmer, formerly of Baker & McKenzie and DLA Piper, joins Dentons’ IP and technology practice in Berlin with experience in competition law, licensing law and press law.
Kläsener, who joins from Shearman & Sterling, reinforces Dentons’ international arbitration practice in Frankfurt. Kläsener has expertise in cross-border arbitrations, in addition to a specialism in engineering and construction.
tom.baker@legalease.co.uk
Pinsent Masons, Bond Dickinson and Shepherd and Wedderburn have all won places on Water Plus’ legal panel. The new business water retailer is a joint venture launched by FTSE 100 water company Severn Trent and United Utilities.
Following a process led by Water Plus head of legal and company secretary Kristin Garrett, the LB100 firms have won a places on the panel lasting two years.
Stoke-on-Trent based Water Plus launched in June last year to provide services for business customers when new competition rules are introduced from April 2017. The new rules will allow eligible customers to switch water providers.
Bond Dickinson will provide advice across commercial, competition, regulatory and commercial disputes. Energy partner Ian Newcombe said: ‘The new competition rules coming into force in April 2017 will impact all UK businesses looking to switch providers and will come with a number of legal challenges as well as opportunities.’
Eversheds is Severn Trent’s sole adviser, renewing for a five-year term in 2015. The water company had considered appointing at least two firms to its roster with the company’s review taking proposals from a total of 13 firms across five different areas: debt recovery, employment, general quality regulation, property and combined competition/commercial economic regulation.
Earlier this week Legal Business revealed utilities giant National Grid has reorganised its in-house legal function following the £13.8bn separation of its gas distribution business.
The new business, National Grid Gas Distribution, has appointed National Grid’s former legal business partner Mark Cooper as its general counsel and company secretary.
National Grid Gas Distribution will retain the same panel arrangements with its main law firms, meaning firms will now sit on two panels. The panel was reduced in August 2015 following a review, with Herbert Smith Freehills, Irwin Mitchell and Addleshaw Goddard all winning places alongside incumbents Eversheds, Linklaters, CMS Cameron McKenna and DLA Piper.
madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk
Read more:‘A buyers’ market – The trends and traumas in adviser reviews’
Pinsent Masons‘ LLPs have revealed that the firm’s highest paid member took home £810,490, down 5% on last year’s figure of £856,293 while key management compensation was up about 2% from £5m to £5.1m.The highest paid figure in LLP accounts does not necessarily equate to the highest paid equity partner and can relate to ‘golden handshakes’ to retiring members.
Turnover at the firm was up 5% from £363.6m to £382.8m while profit available for discretionary division among members was also up 5% from £111.5m to £117.5m.
Meanwhile operating costs at the firm, which in the last year acquired a majority stake in tech compliance business Cerico, as well as expanding in Europe and launching in Australia, increased 7% from £155.5m to £166.9m. Cash and cash equivalents more than doubled, from £20m to £45.7m.
Additionally the number of fee earners at the firm increased slightly, from 1,310 to 1,357 and the total number of members which includes both equity and non-equity increased from 331 to 349. Staff costs were up to £166.9m from £155.5m
The LLPs also state that the board ‘is reviewing further opportunities for international expansion.’
Legal Business first revealed last August that Pinsent Masons was eyeing up a Dublin base, to complement its existing office in Belfast and provide a full UK and Ireland presence for the firm.
Since the firm’s merger with McGrigors in 2012, Pinsents’ international strategy has largely revolved around launching sector-focused greenfield sites, with partners from local firms.
In March 2015 the firm launched in Australia with infrastructure sector-focused practices in Melbourne and Sydney headed up by David Rennick, previously chief executive of Australian law firm Maddocks as well as another infrastructure-focused practice in Johannesburg, with two partners from local firm Bowman Gilfillan last year.
In January 2016 the firm launched a second German base in Düsseldorf with a trio of partners from KPMG’s German legal arm.
kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk
Despite seeming to plug a run of partner exits late last year, Ashurst has lost two partners, with Pinsent Masons and Burges Salmon each picking up new hires.
Corporate insurance partner Hammad Akhtar is to join Pinsent Masons as the head of its corporate offering within the financial sector. Akhtar advises clients in the insurance, retail banking and private banking sectors on a broad range of transactions including disposals, acquisitions and reorganisations. Akhtar moved to Ashurst four years ago from Herbert Smith Freehills, where he was made up to partner in 2010.
Pinsents head of financial services Alexis Roberts said: ‘Hammad is someone whom we have admired for a long time with an established reputation in the City. He will add strength and depth to our corporate capability and complement the existing corporate financial services practice built up by Hannah Brader over recent years. We anticipate that Hammad’s arrival, combined with our proven track record in this area, will move us into a different weight class with respect to transactional work across the financial services sector.’
Meanwhile, Burges Salmon has taken on funds partner Jeremy Bell who has experience advising on the structuring and formation of private investment funds across the alternative asset classes as well as advising on investment into funds.
An Ashurst spokesperson said Bell was ‘leaving for family reasons and will be relocating to Bristol’. She added: ‘We wish him the very best for the future and thank him for his role in helping to establish our well diversified international investment funds practice.’
In December Ashurst hired Milan based partner Paolo Manganelli to head up the office’s restructuring team. He joined from Paul Hastings where he had been since 2014.
The firm also found a replacement chief financial and operations officer with UKTV’s Jan Gooze-Zijl stepping into the role, it emerged in November. Gooze-Zijl, who joined UKTV in 2010, will join Ashurst in February taking up a position on the firm’s executive committee as well as its management board.
The firm voted through changes to its remuneration system in August last following a flood of partner exits and its second revenue dip following its merger with Australia’s Blake Dawson in 2013.
Financial year 2015/16 revenue dropped by £28m to £505m, while profits per equity partner fell by 19%, down to £603,000 from £747,000 during the 2015/16 financial year.
madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk
Read more: ‘Comment: Looking forward to Ashurst’s decline – The outlook worsens for a proud City institution’
Global infrastructure giant Balfour Beatty has renewed its sole adviser mandate with Pinsent Masons until the end of 2018, Legal Business has learned.
The deal which kicked off in April 2013, came to an end this year and was renewed for a further three years by David Mercer, who was appointed group general counsel (GC) and head of legal in July 2015. Mercer (pictured), who was previously UK GC for the construction and services business replaced Chris Vaughan, now GC at Whitbread.
The deal means all of Balfour Beatty’s ‘business as usual’ retained work will continue to be carried out exclusively by Pinsents for a fixed price, while another panel of law firms, which also includes Pinsents, act on complex and business critical legal work.
Commenting on the renewal, Alastair Morrison, head of client strategy at Pinsents and relationship partner for Balfour said the core objective during the second cycle was to drive further value for the infrastructure group.
In June, Legal Business revealed that energy giant E.ON had confirmed its five year single-supplier mandate with Pinsents would run the full course, with the energy supplier electing not to exercise a three-year break clause after appointing the firm as sole legal adviser for general matters in October 2013.
There are a number of other single-supplier deals still active, most notably for Eversheds, which has several deals in place – including one with security systems company Tyco, which was renewed in 2014 for a further three years, and another with FTSE 100 water company Severn Trent, renewed in 2015 for a five-year period.
Also in 2015, the UK arm of global beer and cider producer Heineken announced the appointment of DLA Piper as its principal legal adviser for a major proportion of work, in a move which the company made in a bid to cut down on external legal spend.
Balfour Beatty declined to comment.
kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk
Read more in the feature: ‘Three steps forward… will Tyco-style deals ever sweep the market?‘
