Graduate Recruitment
Meet our people
Paul Pignatelli - Partner
Corporate
University of Glasgow, Law
I head up the Glasgow Corporate practice, working locally with a group of seven or eight lawyers who provide corporate and commercial advice to the major banks, companies, institutions and entrepreneurs in Scotland, elsewhere in the UK and internationally. In day-to-day terms, that means we will help clients buy, sell, fund and invest in companies as well as providing them with other general and strategic commercial advice - it's the ‘Dragon's Den’ side of the firm! A very well respected UK legal directory this year quoted our Scottish team as ‘small but formidable’ and I am incredibly proud of that.
Before joining DLA Piper I worked with several of the leading Scottish law firms. What attracted me here was the fresher and more dynamic team of individuals. It was a lot more open and transparent than anything I had experienced before.
Together with a partner in the Edinburgh office performing a similar role to me, I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to join the firm with a view to growing our corporate practice from scratch. Because of the fantastic infrastructure at our firm, I had the platform I needed to build our client base on a local, national and international level. I was born in Glasgow and love living here. Being at DLA Piper means I can handle enormous international transactions from a Scottish base, which I could not do at any another law firm in this country. It has allowed me to get involved in work on a completely different level.
Compared to the Scottish firms who have been established for hundreds of years, DLA Piper's relative youth means we have an enormous market to aim for and the big challenge of tempting clients away from their existing legal relationships. The current economic climate is very challenging but, in some ways, it could not be better for this particular objective. In this climate, clients are looking for something new and our enthusiasm, energy and hunger gives us a strength that is helping us to win work.
What kind of person do you need to be to work here? Having a personality is a big plus! There are hundreds of very capable lawyers out there but, if I was a client, I would want a person I can engage and empathise with and trust; a business adviser who can be called even for the daft questions, all backed up by the quality legal advice you would expect when you hire a good firm. We need lawyers who will display and impart enthusiasm, energy, a sense of responsibility and confidence. All my colleagues have direct client contact and, having succeeded in gaining that client confidence, are viewed as a first port of call for senior executives. Of course you need to be properly equipped for that level of engagement – we like our people to be hands-on but we will support and supervise so that nobody is left feeling exposed.
If you show the right qualities then you will get on at our firm. Our career structure is very transparent and we pay a lot of attention to the performance review process. We are open and honest with people. There are many opportunities in Scotland. The world is your oyster because we have so much room for growth and plenty of clients to target. You can move up that ladder pretty quickly if you are delivering what needs to be delivered.
I am based in Glasgow, a fantastic place to live and work – it's a vibrant and young city that has a very distinctive feel to it. In many ways it reflects the culture of DLA Piper in that the people are very straight with you and are open, honest and genuine. I love it and feel very much at home here.
