Pinsent Masons has promoted staff outside of traditional legal services to partner for the first time in a slightly increased partner promotions round.
The firm said today (30 March) it was promoting 17 to partner, effective 1 May, including Hayley Boxall from its forensic accounting services team and director of client solutions David Halliwell. Pinsents has an forensic accounting team of seven, focusing on disputes, consultancy services and investigations, while Halliwell is charged with working across the firm to help clients change the way they deliver and receive legal services.
The other promotions – up from a total of 15 last year – are across its energy, financial services, infrastructure, real estate and advanced manufacturing and technology sectors. There are just four promotions outside the UK, including Simone Alphonse and Catherine Bendeich in Australia and Karah Howard in Hong Kong in the energy and infrastructure sectors; and David Stoppelmann in Germany. Five were made up in London, with the remainder elsewhere the UK.
Just over 40% were women, bringing the female proportion of the firm’s 474 partners to about 28%. The firm had in 2018 set a target of 30% representation by 2020, at a time when its partnership was just over 25% women.
Senior partner Richard Foley (pictured) commented: ‘Those promoted strengthen our position as a leading sector-focused, multinational legal services provider and mark an important step in our transition to become a professional services business with law at its core. Now, more than ever, developing talent that supports this is critical as our clients grapple with the challenges posed by coronavirus.’
The promotions come, however, as Pinsents warns partners it is assessing withholding upcoming distributions in response to the impact of Covid-19 on the trading of businesses around the world.
Foley commented: ‘Ordinarily around this time of year, we make a quarterly distribution to our partners. Whether we will do so, and if so, in what amount will depend upon how events unfold over the coming days and weeks.’
hamish.mcnicol@legalbusiness.co.uk
Pinsent Masons 2020 partner promotions in full:
Dawn Allen (financial services, UK)
Simone Alphonse (energy, infrastructure, Australia)
Catherine Bendeich (energy, infrastructure, Australia)
Hayley Boxall (forensic accounting services, UK)
Matthew Brewer (financial services, London)
Andrew Brydon (advanced manufacturing and technology (AMT), infrastructure, London)
Oliver Crowley (financial services, London)
David Halliwell (client solutions, UK)
Karah Howard (energy, infrastructure, Hong Kong)
Gemma Kaplan (financial services, London)
David Lancaster (AMT, London)
Nick McDonald (energy, real estate, UK)
Ann-Marie Salmacis (real estate, UK)
Michael Smith (real estate, UK)
David Stoppelmann (energy, Germany)