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There remains “untapped” potential in the Asia-Pacific region for multinational firms like Pinsent Masons, and for its leaders, there are some particular “sweet spots” in energy and infrastructure Down Under.
Pinsent Masons has been in Australia for over a decade, with much of its growth across the nation coming in the last four to five years. It now boasts 35 partners Down Under, with around 200 lawyers, with that headcount having increased 30 per cent in the last two years and 60 per cent on the revenue front.
With this in mind, the firm has a “huge amount of optimism” about its prospects looking ahead, with a laser focus on energy and infrastructure.
In a recent episode of Legal Firesides, Pinsent Masons global senior partner Andrew Masraf and head of APAC James Morgan-Payler unpack the opportunities they’re seeing in our region and why Australia is such an important part of the BigLaw firm’s trajectory.
While the firm’s UK business is more than 300 years old, Masraf said, the “still untapped” market opportunity in Asia and Australia is what’s really exciting, particularly in what he called the “sweet spots” of energy and infrastructure. The firm’s growth in these sectors – particularly “from nothing” just over a decade ago – is what he sees as such a “fantastic” success story for the BigLaw player.
When asked why the firm is so focused on energy and infrastructure, Masraf said that his recent experience of touring the firm’s APAC offices, including its Chinese locations, allowed him – via high-speed trains – to literally see the growth happening out of the window. That physical manifestation of lawyers’ hard work is happening in real time, he said, and Down Under, real opportunities are being created through the federal government’s commitment to net zero and its energy transition.
Such developments, he said, make Australia and the region “a very exciting, dynamic” part of the globe.
Given the BigLaw firm’s global focus on energy and infrastructure, Morgan-Payler added, Australia’s contributions in these sectors make the offices well placed to work with global clients. “There [are] so many global clients obviously coming into the Australian market, and in many cases, they’re the same clients that are coming into the Asian market, and many of those clients are coming from Asia as well,” he said.
Such global interconnectivity is also important, Masraf noted, given the shifting geopolitical context and new trading relationships: “Some of these connections coming out of the region are supporting us in a variety of different locations. So, for example, trade between China and Saudi, where we opened last year, is a really new dynamic for us. When we’re looking at how the whole picture fits together, understanding these different trading relationships, understanding who’s operating where, allows us to really deploy all of our firm’s assets.”
For Pinsent Masons, and particularly for its Australian outposts, energy and infrastructure will “remain the priority for some time to come”, Morgan-Payler explained. The firm is currently doing a lot in technology, media and telecommunications, and increasingly in hospitality and sports, but energy and infrastructure is where the firm is most dedicated.
“We see the tightness of that strategy, getting the clients to understand what we do here, getting the team to understand what we do here, and really think that helps in terms of building out other practice groups. So, it’s more likely that we have other practice groups that can do other things, but within the energy and infrastructure sectors,” he said.
Such practice areas are at the core of the built environment, Masraf said in support. Other practice areas are features of that environment and are natural, incremental divergences that do not take away from the core focus.
Moreover, there’s no reason why the firm’s foothold in the region in energy and infrastructure won’t continue, the pair said.
Masraf said: “Our strategy is not about opening offices just because we need to be bigger. It’s a thoughtful approach which we’re continually refining, [whereby we identify if] there is a market opportunity. If the answer is yes, then that’s a market that we’re interested in, after we make sure it’s a market opportunity where we can be successful or give ourselves a chance of success.”
In the same episode, Masraf and Morgan-Payler discussed how managing lawyers’ wellness means prioritising collaboration, trust, diversity, and sustainability.
Jerome Doraisamy is the managing editor of professional services (including Lawyers Weekly, HR Leader, Accountants Daily, and Accounting Times). He is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in New South Wales, and a board director of the Minds Count Foundation.
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