Business First Summer 2017 Business First Magazine Summer 2017 | Page 14

COVER STORY - PINSENT MASONS
LEADING THE MARKET
a new Head for Pinsent Masons Belfast
Pinsent Masons recently announced the
appointment of a new Head of Office for
Northern Ireland, Real Estate Partner Andrea
McIlroy-Rose. Business First spoke to Andrea as
she settles into the new role heading up one of
the leading law firms in the local market.
Its five years since Pinsent Masons
merged with McGrigor's. How has the
firm in Belfast changed in that time?
The merger between Pinsent Masons and
McGrigors was the second one within a three
year period as in 2009 L'Estrange & Brett had
merged with McGrigors.
At the time L'Estrange & Brett was the
market leading practice in Northern Ireland
with a history going back over 200 years.
Overnight we became part of a large
national firm and that has increased with the
Pinsent Masons merger given that we are
now part of an international firm with 23
offices worldwide.
We've come a long way in eight years, but
for any office to go through such enormous
changes a period of adjustment is to be
expected.
We have wonderful resources and depth
within the organisation and our challenge is
how best to make this relatable to the local
market and show them that we still provide the
same quality of service, but on a larger scale.
What do you think differentiates you in
this market?
In professional services the quality of
people is vital to the success of any
organisation.
I am extremely lucky to work with a group
of fantastic people, many of whom are leaders
within their field and who are all committed,
enthusiastic and a real pleasure to work with.
Pinsent Masons provides exceptionally
good in­house training on all aspects of client
care and legal updates and as a result the
calibre of our people is very strong.
They are encouraged to expand their areas
of expertise and the jurisdictions within
which they can practice, as this is always
beneficial for clients with interests
throughout the UK and beyond.
In addition to the core areas you expect to
have in a local firm such as corporate,
property, banking and litigation, our focus on
sectors brings unrivalled expertise in
specialist areas such as infrastructure and
energy.
As market conditions and the business
regulatory landscape changes we can bring
real strength on topics such as Brexit, data
protection and health and safety which are
very difficult to provide if you operate in a
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small local practice.
Last year this expertise led to Pinsent
Masons being named as Law Firm of the Year
at both The Legal Business Awards and the
Legal Week British Legal Awards.
The scale of the organisation allows us to
provide innovative services for clients, often
at no additional cost, which can range from
handling their data and extracting
information incredibly quickly to providing
secondments and short term resource
support through products such as Vario.
Cerico is a technology­driven solution that
automates many of the compliance processes
businesses require, whilst Traceable Causes
gives our clients unprecedented visibility
over their portfolio of risk by analysing
disputes data, and the ability to invest on a
targeted and proportionate basis.
These products and others led to Pinsent
Masons being named the Financial Times
Most Innovative Law Firm in Europe in 2015,
and recognised in seven categories at last
year's awards.
Can you outline some key projects
Pinsent Masons has supported that
Business First readers would recognise?
We represent a third of the Top 100 NI
companies and the main focus of the office is
always about servicing local clients.
Stand­out recent deals include acting on the
separate sale and/or purchase of eight of the
main shopping centres and retail parks in
Northern Ireland including Bloomfield and
Erneside shopping centres, Junction One and
the Outlet and most recently Lisnagelvin
shopping centre; the purchase of Viridian by
I­Squared Capital; acting for international
investment fund MedicX in the development
of the Kings Hall complex as a primary care
village; the creation of Northern Ireland’s
first enterprise and data centre site for
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council
and the new student accommodation project
for Queen's University.
Whilst we have a large number of lawyers
in the office dual qualified in England and
Wales as well as Northern Ireland, the English