Case study: Pinsent Masons
Pinsent Masons (PM) was formed in 2004 by the merger of Pinsents, known for its legal work in construction, and Masons who had a strong legal position in the Midlands and North of England. It is a full service, commercial international law firm registered in England and Wales as a Limited Liability Partnership with an annual turnover of approximately £230 million in 2007
Interviews
Two interviews were conducted. Jonathan Bond is the Director of Human Resources and Learning and heads a team of 30 people who are responsible for recruiting, inducting, training legal and generic skills, appraisals, disciplinary issues, grievances, employee relations, pay reviews, promotion and learning and development in general. His main role is to help the firm meet its strategic objectives through attracting people to the firm, retaining them and enabling them to achieve and realise their full potential and worth at work. Jonathan deals with the larger, more strategic picture.
Maxine Jayes, Graduate Recruitment Manager, deals with the more specific details of the graduate recruitment and attraction side of the process.
The views expressed are those of the interviewees, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department.
About the company
PM’s headquarters are in London, but it also has offices in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. It is ranked in the top 50 law firms in the UK and in the top 100 law firms globally and consists of over two hundred and fifty partners, a legal team of around 1000 and more than 1600 staff.
Since the merger, the firm’s overall business strategy has developed to focus on chosen markets. It now operates in 10 client industries: banking, central government, construction, health, insurance, manufacturing, real estate, retail and leisure, support services and technology.
Pinsent Masons offers business solutions and legal knowledge so that the law can be used to build commercial objectives such as takeovers and mergers. As a result, the firm works with a wide range of FTSE 100, Fortune 500 and AIM quoted organisations.
Diversity and inclusion
According to Jonathan Bond, PM's diversity and inclusion strategy began around December 2006 as part of the overall HR strategy, “to help the organisation achieve its own strategic goals... The headline of that strategy was 'Attract, Retain and Enable’”. The fundamental principle behind this strategy was having an organisation with a distinctive culture, one that is as attractive as possible, and one where people will want to stay long-term.
For PM, diversity means finding the right people for the job, regardless of colour, creed, nationality, gender, age, partner preference or physical ability. It also means having an inclusive culture and a workforce that reflects the full potential and variety of the community in which we live. The firm's long term mission includes expansion, targeted growth in the UK and overseas, a strong culture and making sure it practices its values. That mission was made consistent with their core values of diversity and inclusion for everybody.
The diversity and inclusion strategy emerged from a period of consultation with various departments, including heads of practice and heads of office covering major stakeholders – employees, clients, organisational values. Junior-stage employees needed to be more confident that they were valued at work. Clients expected the organisation to be more diverse and inclusive, and PM wanted to communicate the message that its core values are those of respect and cooperation for people from all backgrounds and walks of life.
Professional bodies also had an impact on the current strategy. The Law Society shared information gained from its equality and diversity group. Stonewall helped the firm identify barriers and support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees. This has resulted in PM being the only law firm in the sector to be chosen for the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index. To a lesser extent, DiverCity (a not-for-profit organisation offering advice to businesses on diversity and inclusion) has aided the firm's stance on black and minority ethnic (BME) employment rates, although certain offices, such as Birmingham, were always more diverse due to the local diversity of its graduate pool.
Network groups
Three network groups (for LGBT, Women and BME) were set up. PM is considering other groups, including a disability network group. Jonathan Bond says these networks have provided employees with three main things:
"Firstly, they act as a confidential sounding board for anyone who wants to raise an issue, so an LGB related issue, maybe a complaint, maybe a problem, maybe a conversation about coming out at work etc. Secondly, they input into policies. For example we've been updating our parental leave policy recently, and the LGB group have given some input to make sure the language is inclusive and is applicable to LGB people as well as straight people. Thirdly, they organise meetings and social events so they give a chance for people to network with each other both internally and also sometimes with clients and suppliers".
Although these initiatives have been successful, Jonathan said the company faced concerns over positive discrimination (supporting one group that disadvantages others), specific objections from homophobic quarters and concerns over cost. The diversity budget is £50,000. However, Jonathan said that this amount could have been recouped, by soliciting top graduates, improving work quality from those people supported by the networks, improving the firm's image and increasing retention rates.
Graduate recruitment
Pinsent Masons recruits about 65-70 graduates from a vocational placement pool of about 145 annually. These graduates come from a variety of backgrounds such as engineering and IT. One reason PM does not require a law degree is because it believes it would narrow the scope of talented applicants and may adversely effect diversity and inclusion.
Although the firm targets certain universities, it does offer others, such as Leeds Metropolitan, graduate mentoring. However, Maxine Jayes noted one potential down-side for applicants with non-law degrees in that they would still need to work for another two years within the firm to qualify as a lawyer. She said that this may be financially off-putting, unless they wished to work on the support side of the firm. This side of the business has evolved recently to allow for non-lawyers to become partners.
PM tracks the make up of its graduate applicants and new recruits. According to Maxine, the male/female balance is roughly equal, and the firm is pleased to see an overall increase in the number of applicants from Asian and Afro-Caribbean backgrounds.
It had, however, hoped for more disabled applicants. One of the main barriers for employing disabled people was that PM was initially not aware of the facilities a disabled person may require. But since it employed its first disabled person last year, it has installed:
"hoists for moving around [and] special bathroom facilities. [Our disabled employee is] based in the Birmingham office, we've made adjustments for her here, working with her and the department she works with. She has to have a 24-hour carer working with her to try and figure out what she needs. Obviously, she's quite used to it but in a business environment it's quite different... It's been a mutual learning experience. It's been great. I know there are other candidates who we will be offering this to this summer who will also fall into this category."
Recruitment process
Pinsent Masons' recruitment process begins with the dissemination of information via its website and graduate brochure. Once the graduate submits an online application, it is sifted by the graduate recruitment team, which is ethnically diverse. Applications can amount to 2,000 annually.
The first criterion is the requirement of a 2:1 degree, unless extenuating circumstances are offered. This is followed by examining applicants’ answers to business questions, followed by the applicants’ achievements. These are judged not on what opportunities life has given the applicant, but on what opportunities the applicant has made themselves. These are then sifted to look at challenging situations and long-term career prospects. One thing that PM insists on besides academic ability is work experience. This does not necessarily mean having been through a PM placement or work experience scheme. It could, Maxine says, be "someone who worked in his Dad's scaffolding business", demonstrating “passion and interest and the ‘smarts’ to a certain extent".
Once candidates are selected they will attend two interviews with at least two trained interviewers, so that different perceptions of the candidates can be attained to omit bias. The candidates are also assessed using group business exercises. Finally, there is a written and oral presentation of a case study. Feedback is given on all aspects of the recruitment process if requested. References are only taken up after a position is offered to confirm the candidate's credentials.
Reviewing the recruitment process
Maxine says PM is always reviewing and updating its recruitment process. This can include updating technology and software to continue to make online applications user friendly and accessible. As Maxine says, "we wanted to make it very simple and easy to navigate, not [using] too much jargon so we didn't put people off".
Other recent changes include not asking which university people have attended, so as to encourage applicants from a variety of backgrounds. The brochure images and tone of language used are reviewed annually to incorporate the changing business and social environment. PM also reviews where best to market its brochure to be most effective. Even the testing system is re-assessed frequently to incorporate new developments and ways of assessing.
Maxine believes that future initiatives should include marketing aspects of a career in law, and that the best place to begin is by contacting future graduates currently at school. PM is currently employing outreach initiatives in secondary schools, but feels it needs to do more. Present initiatives involve company representatives, including black and minority ethnic (BME) employees, going into schools and talking to students to inspire them to consider a future in law.
It is hoped these informal discussions will dismiss some of the preconceptions surrounding a career in law, such as it being a "cut-throat environment" and favouring "white middle-class males". As Maxine says, "it's about going back into schools and getting those people to realise they have the potential and they can do it".
PM has also signed up to the online BLD (Black Lawyers Directory). The BLD has two school programmes; pre-16 and 16-19, encouraging youngsters to consider a career in law.
Conclusion
Three major themes can be drawn from Pinsent Masons. Firstly, there was agreement on the need for a strategy to increase expansion: the business case. To remain competitive, innovative and fulfil the interests of all stakeholders, the firm believes it needs to be as diverse and inclusive as possible. This has meant the recruitment process of its graduates has needed to develop in order to be able to find those exceptional graduates.
The second theme therefore, is to re-evaluate the evidence for graduate’s competencies. As Maxine says, it’s about finding out "what's important to them, their values and what really drives them and inspires them". Once the difficult task of finding and recruiting these graduates has been achieved, PM wants to make sure they stay with the firm.
The third theme – retention through support from employees' diversity networks – has been a top-down as well as grass-roots initiative, providing employees with knowledge, a feeling of inclusion and belonging, and a voice.
