Today we’ll look at how PwC Legal is expanding its lawyer headcount in regional offices as part of a project for the new financial year. The legal arm of the accountancy firm is eyeing growth for its professionals especially in its bases in Manchester and Birmingham, but expansion will equally be pursued in Leeds and Belfast.
The project, which will be a focus for the next six months, will entail a recruitment effort and a string of internal promotions. There are currently about 30 lawyers in Manchester and Birmingham, but no partners are based there. The headcount is expected to go up significantly with the arrival of new directors (a PwC term that refers to salary partners) and senior partners to head the local teams. It comes as a number of other teams in PwC’s tax and consulting businesses are increasingly in need of regular legal support when it comes to corporate and commercial activity.
However, there are other reasons behind the project, including the recent downsizing of law firms in the regions. BLM recently closed bases in Bristol and Leeds in favour of remote working; and Dentons shut its Aberdeen and Watford offices, with its employees and partners also set to work from home permanently from now on. In a press release, Ed Stacey, head of legal and partner at PwC, noted:
The fact that there are firms with different structures and dynamics that are looking to reshape is an opportunity for us.
The idea dovetails with a growing move out of London as a main legal centre. A number of PwC clients are based in those cities and need local legal support. At the same time, the fact that the firm’s lawyers mostly work on inbound matters from foreign countries means there is no need for them to stay in London.
The trend has been accelerated by the arrival of the pandemic, with a number of people who no longer want to embark on lengthy commutes to the city.
Both in Manchester and Birmingham, PwC will be able to welcome new joiners in relatively new premises. Last year, the firm bid farewell to its twenty-year hold home in Barbirolli Square to populate new premises in the new No1 Spinningfields, the tallest commercial building in Manchester with over 260,000 square feet of space across 19 floors. Early this year, the firm opened its Birmingham office, which became its largest UK office out of London by occupying the whole of a new seven-storey, 172,000 square- feet development.
NOTE: overall, PwC Legal currently employs over 10,000 staff outside London.
The new project follows the end of a previous strategic effort aimed at developing a financial services practice, which culminated with the hire of alternative investment funds partner David Selden from U.S. firm Fried Frank and that will see more additions in the autumn.
As the financial services team develops, the firm has also recently expanded its offering with a new sustainability legal practice spearheaded by Georgie Messent, who joined as a director and was previously a partner at Pinsent Masons where she headed the firm’s environmental practice. She will focus on regulatory and compliance issues in environmental, energy and infrastructure mandates, working with other PwC consultants who have existing projects in this field.
PwC Legal initially gained a licence from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in 2014. In 2016, it was also fully integrated into PwC UK, transforming the accountancy firm into a multi-disciplinary practice. The integration of its UK legal and accountancy entities completed in following a two-year process.
