Pinsent Masons has appointed its first chief operating officer (COO) and its first external board member.

Alastair Mitchell joins as COO from Holman Fenwick Willan where he held the same role.

Mitchell is a chartered accountant with many years of experience working in the legal sector.

He worked for Linklaters between 1999 and 2012, rising to the UK COO role, which he held for nearly five years between 2007 and 2012.

He subsequently joined Holman Fenwick as COO, holding the role between 2012 and 2016.

As Pinsents' COO he will sit on the firm's operations committee.

The firm has also appointed banker Pauline Egan as a non-executive board member, the firm's first external board appointment. She also chairs the firm's nominations committee.

Egan meanwhile, is also a non-executive director of the UK subsidiary of the Allied Irish Bank, where she is a member of the audit and remuneration committee.

She is also governor of Morley College, an adult education college in London.

Previously she had a successful career at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), where her roles included head of strategy and head of London for RBC wealth management.

The firm's senior partner, Richard Foley, said: "There is significant evidence that organisations that have an external viewpoint to test and challenge at board level outperform those that do not, and I welcome Pauline in that capacity."

He added: "Alastair is also a highly impressive individual whose focus will be on the efficient and effective running of our business operations on an international scale."

Board:

Catherine Workman – Infrastructure partner
Charlotte Beckett – Director of finance
John Cleland – Managing partner
Joanne Ellis – Corporate partner
Rainer Kreifels – Germany head
Alastair Morrison – Head of client strategy
Richard Foley – Senior partner
Kirk Murdoch – Scotland and Northern Ireland chair
Pauline Egan – Non-executive director

Operations Committee:

Laura Cameron – Head of the risk advisory services group
Michael Watson – Head of finance and projects
Andrew Masraf – Head of corporate
Adrian Barlow – Head of property
Bob Ruddiman – Head of energy
David Isaac – Head of advanced manufacturing & technology
Alexis Roberts- Head of financial services
Richard Laudy – Head of infrastructure
Charlotte Beckett – Director of finance
John Cleland – Managing partner
Alastair Mitchell – COO