2020 vision

Pinsent Masons has set itself the lofty goal of becoming a truly global law firm by the year 2020. The firm’s Asia-Pacific managing partner, Vincent Connor, explains the strategy and where Asia fits into the picture

When asked about his firm’s fortunes in Asia in light of the financial crisis, Vincent Connor’s voice is awash with optimism. Business in the firm’s longest-established area – construction – is coming through the door with unyielding regularity and it’s the promise of much more that has Connor noticeably enthused.

“In construction and projects in Hong Kong alone we are seeing work that would have normally taken 20 years to do being compressed to 10 years, and this will keep our practices busy for a long time to come,” he says. Connor is, of course, referring to the trillions of dollars being spent by governments from China to the Philippines and Vietnam on constructing new infrastructure and improving dilapidated infrastructure.

Chances are that Pinsent Masons has been involved, either directly or indirectly, on many (if not most) of the landmark stimulus-related deals closed over the last year. The firm has advised on the US$1.763bn privatisation of PSALM, the government agency responsible for handling the sale of the Philippines’ National Power Corporation’s assets, the groundbreaking $US5.6bn Hong Kong/Zhuhai/Macau Bridge project, and Veolia’s partnership to run Hong Kong’s historic tramway.

Everything, it seems, is on track for the firm to realise its goal of becoming a ‘truly international’ player. “Two years ago we articulated a series of business objectives – the most significant of which was our ambition to become a law firm of truly international reach by the year 2020,” Connor explains.
But just what does this involve and, more importantly, where does Asia figure in this strategy? Connor says the 2020 plan is fundamentally about increasing the firm’s global reach beyond its (already extensive) network of 13 offices, while concomitantly enlarging the areas it practices in.
“When we looked at our strategic direction back in 2007 we knew that Asia needed to be expanded,” he notes. “We said we wanted to grow the number of lawyers, which at the moment is 75, to 100 by 2012 and this is certainly still on the cards … the aim has been to deliver a range of exciting and sustainable practice groups in the medium term.”

Brand

Branding is also crucial to the process. Here the firm has been faced with the tricky task of selling its brand as more than just simply a ‘construction play’, while preserving a reputation that has won it plaudits – such as the “Construction Law Firm of the Year’ award at the 2009 ALB Hong Kong law awards.“We have a terrific brand in construction [law] in Asia which we maintain zealously,” Connor says. “But we have, over the past few years, been investing heavily in resources here to ensure we are regarded as a firm with a strong offering in areas in addition to construction.”

These areas Connor refers to are projects, IP, IT & outsourcing and corporate; the firm has made no less than six senior appointments over the last year. It is looking to bring its offering in these areas to critical mass. “One of the challenges is to ensure that we retain our construction credentials and don’t dilute that, while persuading the market about our enhanced offering in, for example, corporate and technology,” he explains.

While brand is important, Connor recognises that its pulling power has diminished, as a result of increasing competition between international law firms in Asia’s legal services markets. “One thing I believe that differentiates us is that we’ve made considerable strides in acting for Asian clients in their expansion overseas in recent years. We now work for some of the largest Chinese, Japanese and Korean contractors in their operations around the world,” he says.

“I do think we have made inroads into changing perceptions, but at the same time I think it is people and what they are able to bring to the firm and to the clients which will dictate the success of one’s brand,” Connor says. “Technically excellent lawyers who can talk the same language as their clients, who know the sector their clients are in, whether it be private equity, tech or power, and the commercial drivers behind them – as well as the industry norms – do more for a firm’s brand than anything else.” 

Connections

A pillar of Pinsent’s 2020 vision is ensuring that the firm’s already extensive network of formal and informal referral relationships in Asia continue to be broadened and enhanced. An alliance was recently sealed with international firm Salans and Pinsents has been working in association with boutique dispute resolution practice MPillay in Singapore for the past few years, in addition to enjoying a select range of smaller, but informal, ententes with domestic law firms across Asia-Pacific. “Our Singapore alliance with MPillay has been very effective since we launched it three years ago and this will deepen in the year ahead.” Connor says this will be achieved through a mixture of working more closely on matters and with clients, having extensive business development collaboration, plus seeing the flow of lawyers in both directions (as the recent relocation of a partner and senior associate of Pinsents to Singapore demonstrates).

Salans is a similar proposition: a firm-wide relationship that allows the two to scout for opportunities that would normally not be on offer if not for an alliance. This includes opportunities in Europe where Salans has a total of 10 offices across Russia, Central and Eastern Europe – as well as the ability to tap into existing streams of work. “Our association with Salans adds a compelling Hong Kong listing capability to our existing excellent PE and M&A practice in Hong Kong,” Connor says.

Similarly, Pinsent’s relationships elsewhere in the region offer the firm greater coverage. Here, Connor isn’t afraid to use the specialist and boutique firms as well as top-tier domestic players. “We have a range of referral relationships in other jurisdictions in Asia; in Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam as well as Australia and New Zealand,” he says.“What we try to do is to identify two or three firms in each jurisdiction who we want to invest time and resources in working with … and try to maintain a mix of specialist and full-service law firms.”

The standard Connor uses is simple – putting oneself in the client’s shoes, because he says Pinsent Masons’ stated objective is to work hard to make its clients’ jobs easier. “The strategy with our referral relationships in Asia is aimed at ensuring that we have friends in each jurisdiction that I would use if it was my deal,” Connor says. “We have had a lot of success with this approach and some of these relationships are 20-plus years old.”

This all raises the question – to what extent are these relationships the first step towards a merger? After all, Pinsent Masons is certainly not averse to the notion of mergers. The firm – as we know it today – was itself the result of a 2004 merger between Pinsent and Masons. Before that merger, Pinsents was the creation of a host of smaller UK mergers seen earlier this decade and in the late 1990’s. “There is no present plan to evolve these relationships into mergers because they work well for us … and it gives us a very welcome flexibility in what we do,” says Connor.

CSR, work/life balance

Areas that the managing partner feels are crucial to the creation of the truly global law firm are the work/life balance and corporate social responsibility (CSR). “Programs such as our Starfish initiative to ‘inspire young lives’ are pursued by us at the global level and act as a sort of glue that holds everyone in the firm together,” he says. “It gives our team another type of common purpose and a firm-wide sense of a broader direction.”

Connor believes that leadership from the top will not only guarantee the success of these initiatives, but also go a long way to eroding the hierarchies which often pervade the culture of international law firms, making them more able to concentrate on clients’ needs. “Managing partners should provide leadership to ensure that people at all levels of the firm are connected … they go a long way to breaking down barriers and maintaining an egalitarian culture consistent with our values,” he says.

When he isn’t busy building up the firm in Asia, or taking part in Pinsent Mason’s work/life balance sessions (the ancient art of Tai Chi or the more modern art of swing dance) Connor is a travel enthusiast who enjoys backpacking around Asia: “Organising train travel from Delhi to Mcleodganj via Rishikesh, Amritsar and Shimla certainly works as a way of escaping the daily duties of managing partner, and does wonders for recharging the batteries for the next stage of our development.”