Pinsent Masons established an office in Dublin in 2018 and hired funds lawyer Gayle Bowen to lead the practice. Operating from 25 offices around the world, Pinsent Masons employs over 1,600 lawyers and has global revenue of c. €500m. In Dublin the firm’s main practice areas are investment funds, technology and corporate services, as well as litigation, employment, banking and insurance capability. Real estate and energy practices are also planned. 

Lateral partners hires in 2018 included Garrett Monaghan from DWF, Kevin Collins from Eversheds Sutherland and Ann Lalor from Whitney Moore. More recently senior associate Niall Campbell joined from William Fry, and his colleague Naoise Harnett be joining from Frys as a partner this summer.

What persuaded you to join Pinsent Masons?

In my career I have been fortunate to enjoy a variety of challenges, which includes training and qualifying in a large domestic Irish law firm, senior legal advisor in a large asset management company, partner in a specialist / boutique financial services law firm headquartered in the Cayman Islands and now leading large full service international law firm headquartered in the UK. Each role has been completely different and I have learnt a lot from each.

There were a number of factors that attracted me to Pinsent Masons. I was aware of their reputation as the leading law firm for innovation. Unique to the Irish market, we have a team of coders that provide innovative solutions to our clients. The firm's global sectoral approach was also important to me, as it brings deep sectoral expertise into the Irish market. The culture, energy and vision of the leadership also played a role. Finally having a UK advisory capability during Brexit was extremely important to me in my funds practice, as most of my clients are based in the UK.  This has been extremely valuable and of great assistance to our clients and is something that I did not have in any of my other roles.

Where does the firm see the opportunity in the Irish legal market?

We initially started with three practice areas; investment funds, technology and corporate services. We have expanded significantly in our first year and now have a litigation, employment, banking and insurance capability and will shortly have real estate and energy practices.  We are constantly assessing our global client base and looking for new opportunities in the Irish market and are quick to react when we see one.

In Association with

Pinsent Masons operates under five key global sectors, which are Advanced Manufacturing & Technology, Financial Services, Infrastructure, Energy and Real Estate.  We expect to have all 5 sectors covered in Ireland by the end of the year.

What makes us different is our approach to innovation and our global reach. We have over 1,600 lawyers worldwide across the same global sectors that we operate in Ireland. We have outstanding global connectivity, advising clients in 25 offices across the world. A good example is on the financial services side, we have been able to advise our clients on the implications of Brexit in most countries that they operate.

To build up the firm from scratch in Dublin requires lateral hires. What persuades people to move – higher salaries or the fact that they’re part of something new with growth potential?

Ireland is a competitive market for legal talent, and of course any new entrant to the market is going to add to that pressure. While salaries undoubtedly will be a part of that, we find that it is not the only or in some cases the most important factor. The prospect of joining a new large international law firm with an excellent global reputation is exciting to most candidates.  Given the prominent clients/transactions that we have already won in the Irish market, we are able to offer high profile work and offer the opportunity to become more involved in business development and marketing opportunities than would be the case in a traditional firm.

The fact that we offer agile working to our staff, where they can work from home if they wish, is very appealing to candidates.  What I hear the most from candidates that join us, is that they are particularly impressed by the culture of the firm, which is open, transparent and non-hierarchical, which they comment is unlike any law firm that they previously worked in.

How important is location and workplace environment for attracting staff?

Location is important both to our clients and staff and we wanted to make a statement in the Irish market.  Being located in such a fantastic building has definitely helped us.  1 Windmill Lane has won a number of awards, including Best Commercial Workplace by the RIAI and really is an outstanding space. It is also the home of the old Windmill Lane recording studio and with fantastic facilities, including luxurious shower, lockers, towels, hairdryers, it really is a pleasure coming into work every morning.

To our knowledge, we are the first law firm in Dublin to operate on a fully agile basis. That drives a unique culture where people can balance work with other responsibilities and we know that is attracting attention in the market already. Tackling 'presentee-ism' is an important part of Pinsent Masons drive for greater gender balance, particularly for women to progress in their careers.

What is Pinsent Masons’ ambition in Dublin in terms of practice size?

As is evident from our rapid growth to date, we have very ambitious plans.  With the new teams joining us in May, we will have more than doubled the number of partners to seven and having started with only 10 staff initially, we expect to be at approximately 50 by the end of the year.