Legal giant Pinsent Masons puts spark into boardroom

Global law firm Pinsent Masons has launched a new board to promote “inclusive decision-making” with an Edinburgh-based lawyer playing a leading role.

The firm's new Spark Board. Picture: Contributed

The firm said the aim of Spark Board was to ensure that its main board benefited from “perspectives” from outside the elected partnership.

The composition of the new board will ensure that viewpoints from different generations, geographies and job roles are represented.

Pinsent Masons employs nearly 3,000 people worldwide, including some 1,500 lawyers and 400 partners.

Edinburgh-based employment lawyer David Bryden is one of eight Spark Board members who are below the level of partner, legal director or director of business operations.

The firm said it had received 130 applications from across its global network of offices with the successful candidates, who also work in Birmingham, Leeds, London, Dubai, Melbourne and Paris, appointed for a two-year term.

Bryden said: "The Spark Board was born from a recognition that, whether you are a lawyer, a fee earner in another discipline or a specialist in an area of business operations, you can offer a different way of thinking and alternative expertise on the big issues.

"There is a recognition around our business that no single person or committee has the monopoly on good ideas, and that's where the Spark Board has a role to play. We can better use, and benefit from, the diversity of all our people."

Richard Foley, senior partner, added: "As we continue to transition our business we know our decision-making needs to be informed by the widest possible range of talents within our business."