Pinsent Masons is set to cut roles as part of a broader overhaul of its operations overseen by its new leadership, the UK-founded firm confirmed today.
The move will see Vario, its standalone alternative legal services arm, integrated into the firm alongside a review of its business operations with a view to making greater use of technology and its international network.
A spokesperson declined to comment on how many roles could be affected and in which offices, citing an ongoing consultation.
"Headcount considerations are confined to Vario and business operations, but no decision on numbers will be made until the consultation has concluded," they said.
The consultation forms part of wider changes being implemented by senior partner John MacIver and managing partner Richard Griffiths. Both have begun their leadership roles within the last six weeks after Andrew Masraf and Laura Cameron, their respective predecessors, stood down after a single term, having lost contested elections this summer.
The spokesperson said the integration of Vario's teams directly into its practice groups was intended to drive innovation by involving technologists in client matters from the very beginning, rather than being brought in once they have already been agreed.
Separately, Pinsents wants to optimise its use of tech, automation and AI within business operations, the spokesperson said, as well as make greater use of employees in its international network, particularly Warsaw, where it opened earlier this year with a six-partner team hired from CMS, Dentons, DLA Piper and Greenberg Traurig.
The firm said in a statement that the changes would optimise "how we organise and deliver our services to best meet the needs of our clients and our business".
“We have built significant expertise and capability in alternative legal service delivery through Vario. We are ambitious about capitalising on that success, moving towards a model that embeds its people and capabilities more deeply within the wider firm.
"This is an important evolution, having listened to our clients and the market, that will strengthen how expertise is deployed to make alternative legal service delivery a more integrated component of how we deliver solutions for our clients."
Commenting on the redundancy consultation, the firm said: “We understand that this is an unsettling period for our colleagues and we are engaging directly with them to provide transparency and support throughout this period.”
The decision to integrate Vario’s service lines follows Pinsents embedding its innovation and change teams into practice groups earlier this year.
Last month it also appointed head of commercial Clare Francis and restructuring head Stacey Bairner as its first co-heads of innovation and transformation. They have been tasked with spending half of their time working closely with Hayley Harris, chief knowledge and AI adoption officer, and chief technology officer Tracey McDermott to drive the firm’s strategy for client-facing legal service transformation.
The firm's leadership change, meanwhile, followed a period of muted growth at the 1,500-lawyer firm. Pinsents reported a modest 3.3% rise in revenue in the 2026 financial year to just over £700m, compared to double-digit gains at rivals Simmons & Simmons and Addleshaw Goddard. Meanwhile, the firm's profit per equity partner fell to £740k, having hovered at just below £800k for the previous two financial years after gains of 8% and 16% respectively in FY23 and FY22.
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