The Legal 500

An international law firm with a great reputation for delivering a high-quality service and adding real value for clients. A law firm whose approach to doing business is structured around developing long-term relationships with our clients, our people and our local and global communities.

The firm: Pinsent Masons is a high-quality commercial law firm with a global reputation in the world of infrastructure and construction. Headquartered in London, and operating out of three ‘hubs’ in the UK, UAE and Asia with business across Europe, CIS, Middle East, Africa, India and Asia, Pinsent Masons also has offices in the Dubai, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore (where the firm operates a Joint Law Venture, Pinsent Masons MPillay LLP) as well as in key business centres throughout the UK. In China, the firm has an innovative long-term cooperation agreement with the Beijing Hesen Law Firm, a specialist construction law-focused Chinese legal practice. Pinsent Masons also has a co-operation agreement with the European law firm Salans, who support the delivery of multi-jurisdictional work in a number of major business centres across the CIS and Europe.

Types of work undertaken: With over 1,100 partners and legal staff worldwide, working with major UK and international corporations, institutions and public bodies, the firm has considerable knowledge and expertise across a wide range of industries and services which cover (for example) corporate, M&A, commercial, competition, litigation and arbitration, banking, restructuring, insurance, financial services and regulatory, construction and infrastructure, projects, pensions, property, planning and environmental, procurement, energy (particularly renewables and nuclear), natural resources, outsourcing, employment, share plans, technology and tax. The firm also has strong global credentials in infrastructure and energy, with primary sectors including banks, construction, insurance, manufacturing, public sector, real estate, retail and leisure, support services and technology.

Pinsent Masons’ emphasis on listening, understanding and building strong working partnerships has proved essential to the firm’s many successful client relationships, evidenced by the large number of FTSE350 and equivalent clients for which the firm acts.

Other offices: Beijing, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai and operates in association with MPillay in Singapore.

Number of UK partners (including legal directors) 280
Number of other UK fee-earners 575

McGrigors is one of the UK’s major full-service commercial law firms. It is particularly well-known for its strength in the energy, infrastructure, and professional and financial services sectors.

The firm: With offices in London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Aberdeen, Belfast and Glasgow, McGrigors is the only full-service law firm to have a presence across all three UK jurisdictions. The firm also has a branch office in Qatar Financial Centre, Doha, Qatar. The firm prides itself on its commercial and pragmatic approach to helping clients achieve their business objectives, with a focus on developing strong client relationships and building a deep understanding of their businesses.

Types of work undertaken: Energy: McGrigors’ energy team is one of the biggest dedicated teams of energy lawyers in the UK. With experience of the entire energy spectrum and strong relationships with energy companies, regulatory bodies and the wider financial community, the firm can contribute much more than legal knowledge to a project.

Infrastructure: McGrigors’ infrastructure team has established itself as a market-leader, both in terms of deals completed and pioneering new ways of working, having completed over 200 PPP/PFI projects to date. McGrigors advises on urban regeneration, education, health, housing, prisons, waste, transport and roads. Its lawyers have experience of all sides of the equation: funders, public sector bodies, facilities managers, infrastructure and construction companies, and their special purpose vehicles and joint ventures. That rounded perspective means that its lawyers see solutions others might not spot.

Professional and financial services: McGrigors advises all types of professional and financial services companies, including accountancy practices, insurers, banks and lenders, private equity houses, and pension companies and their trustees, to assist with the successful implementation of all of their commercial objectives within today’s landscape of ever increasing regulation and oversight.

Banking and finance: the McGrigors team’s advice extends to all types of lending and security transactions, from the straightforward to the highly complex. The fundamental principle which underlies the firm’s banking and finance practice is that the lawyers have a full conceptual understanding of the underlying transaction being financed.

Corporate: the McGrigors corporate team offers a full range of corporate and commercial legal services. The team’s thorough understanding of the various pressures and sensitivities which affect corporate transactions makes it ideally placed to provide effective advice quickly on major corporate transactions across multiple legal jurisdictions, as well as smaller one-off deals within the UK.

Employment and pensions: McGrigors’ employment and pensions team has more than 40 lawyers nationally advising some of the UK’s largest businesses, as well as providing support as part of the firm’s transactional work.

Litigation and dispute resolution: McGrigors has one of the largest, most diversified and fastest-growing litigation practices in the UK. As dispute resolution mechanisms vary slightly between jurisdictions, the firm is able to offer the highest quality dispute resolution service, wherever clients need it.

Tax disputes and investigations: a market-leading player offering a cutting-edge service to companies and individuals in dispute with the tax authorities, McGrigors focuses exclusively on actual or potentially contentious tax matters. The team consists of former tax inspectors, HM Customs officers, accountants, and solicitors and barristers, which makes it well-placed to provide advice in relation to tax enquiries, investigations, disputes and litigation and in relation to restitutionary and/or damages claims in the High Court, as well as HMRC behavioural issues.

Real estate: the team is a leader when it comes to transactions involving property development projects, brownfield and waterfront developments, structured finance, landlord and tenant work, portfolio management and advising the social housing sector. McGrigors also has an exceptional housebuilding team which advises across the sector on a wide range of issues.

Other offices: Aberdeen, Belfast, Doha, Edinburgh, Glasgow