An insight into Pinsent Masons’ purpose. More than just a marketing tagline

‘Champion change, promote progress and enable everyone to make business work better for people’.
As we listened intently to our introductory talk, these were the punchy lines that rang in our ears long after we left the induction hall. What I didn’t realise at this point, but what two weeks within the walls of this firm taught me, is that Purpose is not an initiative; it is a way of doing business, which is core to the conversations, decisions and behaviours of people across all levels at Pinsent Masons (PM). This, is what makes PM’s punchy-lined Purpose statement deliver the true wealth of advantages it promises.

Champion changes

Working with PM’s industry-leading Construction&Engineering team, I conducted market research into Thought Leadership pieces written by competitor firms to inform and equip our team in producing leading legal insights through our Thought Leadership Service, Outlaw. By offering impactful insights into sector-wide issues, Outlaw enables PM to ‘champion change’ in a way that’s crucial to the pursuit of its 2030 vision to become market-leader in its global sectors.

Promote progress

Conducting market intelligence into pertinent news stories and crystallised opportunities our lawyers or clients could pursue in Africa helped inform sector-heads and clients on key areas of business development and promote our growing presence in Africa. 

Delving into PM’s intranet, I discovered its commitment to promoting progress isn’t restricted to the realm and reach of partners, but aligned across all levels. By ‘enabling everyone’ to submit proposals on the Innovation Hub, apply for Innovation Hours and voice opinions through SPARK, all ideas are welcome and putting them forward actively encouraged – exampled by the willingness of partner, Lucy Shurwood, to listen to, and incorporate, proposals presented by Damini (trainee solicitor) regarding implementation of a Trainee Innovation Academy.

Enable everyone, to make business work better for people

Never was the concept of “making business work better for people” encapsulated more aptly than when I received a phone call from Paris in my last hour. It was my trainee buddy, Yael, calling to say goodbye! With her wedding looming closer, PM’s commitment to “enable everyone” through agile-working, meant she was able to work remotely from the Paris Office.

PM’s non-hierarchical culture was immediately apparent when I found myself discussing cocktail-making socials with our Legal Director, and Beyoncé’s Lion King Live Action with our team’s solicitor, associate and paralegal at lunch. Its non-competitive, collaborative spirit was undoubtedly evident after receiving interview tips from our team’s dedicated Paralegal-who I later discovered was being considered for the very position she was so passionately advising me for. Its commitment to creating an environment in which collective endeavour and collaboration isn’t only encouraged, but engrained into its sprit of working, was unquestionably apparent when I found myself sitting between a Legal Director, Associate, Paralegal and Trainee, assisting in preparing a BD portfolio for a huge prospective client.

To experience PM is to experience working within a truly supportive and cohesive cohort of colleagues, where its purpose, code and values-as I saw within its walls-work together and in support of one another to guide how its people operate every day.