Spotlight On: Allison Sizemore, Managing Partner, Reed Smith
Key points:
- • Reed Smith is pursuing disciplined growth around key industries and markets.
- • AI is reshaping legal service delivery, efficiency, and client expectations.
- • Private equity activity is driving more creative deal structures.
October 2026 — Allison Sizemore, managing partner at Reed Smith, spoke with Invest: about disciplined growth, industry specialization, artificial intelligence, private equity, and the firm’s Pittsburgh roots. “Although the firm now has a broad footprint and some offices are larger than Pittsburgh, this market remains an important part of the firm,” Sizemore said.
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How is Reed Smith helping clients navigate uncertainty and disruption?
We are staying close to clients, concentrating on the industries we know best, and investing in talent and technology. Clients are managing uncertainty around changing trade policies, regulation, AI adoption, cybersecurity, costs, workforce, and risk management. Our goal is to assemble teams and be highly responsive to their needs as these issues evolve.
Reed Smith is growing in the areas and markets where our clients operate and anticipating the legal issues that they will need to solve to continue to be successful.
How are you expanding the firm’s global platform?
We are growing in a disciplined way in markets and practices that support our industry focus and improve the services available to clients. Growth decisions begin with what clients need, where they operate, and where the firm sees increased demand for sophisticated legal work.
Within the past two years, we opened offices in Atlanta, Denver, Boston, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Those locations reflect our assessment of client demand and business needs. They give us access to strong talent pipelines and strengthen our practice areas.
We are also growing in existing markets, including Pittsburgh. That requires developing leaders and recruiting laterals with complementary practices. My job is to connect a client quickly with the right lawyer regardless of where that lawyer is located.
Pittsburgh has long been central to Reed Smith. We were founded here in 1877. Although the firm now has a broad footprint and some offices are larger than Pittsburgh, this market remains an important part of the firm. We represent major Pittsburgh clients, are proud of our roots, and continue to invest here.
How does an industry-focused approach shape the firm’s work?
We align our practices around five sectors: energy and natural resources, entertainment and media, financial services, healthcare and life sciences, and transportation.
Our lawyers understand not only the law, but the context in which the client operates its business; that includes how a client generates revenue, its competition and pain points, the regulatory scrutiny it faces, where its capital comes from, and its risk tolerance.
Technology and AI affect each sector differently. Financial institutions may focus on consumer protection, privacy, and regulatory review, while transportation companies may look more at infrastructure and operational efficiency. Pittsburgh has lawyers working across all five industry sectors. Clients want to move from complex law to what it means for them and what they should do next.
How is Reed Smith approaching artificial intelligence?
Reed Smith has been at the forefront of the legal industry’s adoption of AI. We were among the earliest global law firms to adopt Harvey, and rather than treating AI as an experiment or a technology initiative confined to a small group of specialists, we made a deliberate decision to engage the entire firm.
Today, AI is becoming embedded in how our lawyers practice, how our business professionals operate, and how we work with clients. Our people are trained, adoption is broad, and our focus has moved beyond whether to use AI to how we can use it to fundamentally improve the quality, efficiency, and value of what we do.
That early start matters. It has given our lawyers and business professionals time to develop experience with the technology, identify where it can make a meaningful difference, and increasingly incorporate it into their everyday work. We are now building on that foundation to rethink legal service delivery and capabilities and help clients navigate their own AI transformation.
What trends are you seeing in private equity activity?
We are seeing a narrowing pricing gap between buyers and sellers, AI exposure for technology-based businesses, and creative deal structures caused by tightness in private credit markets and longer holding periods for sponsors. Last year was difficult for fundraising, and holding periods extended to six years or more. In 2026, we are already seeing more pressure to dispose of assets and liquidate investments for limited partners.
Capital is available, but conditions differ from prior years. We are seeing more creative transaction structures, including add-ons and tuck-ins. We continue to see strong transaction and M&A activity, and we will see how that develops through the rest of 2026 and into 2027.
Which trends will have the greatest impact on the legal profession?
The most successful law firms will combine a global footprint, technology, and deep industry knowledge. None of those elements alone is sufficient for a firm operating at scale. Reed Smith has demonstrated strength in global capacity, technology and AI, and, most importantly, personal client relationships and trusted-adviser relationships.
Pittsburgh has a robust economy built around many of the sectors we serve. It has strong colleges and universities, technology capabilities in robotics and AI, healthcare, financial services, major banks, and a strong sense of community. We can use Pittsburgh client relationships to introduce increasingly global clients to firm capabilities in other U.S. markets, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Clients will continue to expect efficient legal service that uses AI and other technology. An AI engine can produce output, but the key is to curate and adjust that output so it helps a client perform better. Lawyers must synthesize information and provide practical, risk-managed advice.
Legal advice also needs to become more integrated with business operations. Lawyers will work alongside technology and data analytics specialists and with experts in sectors such as healthcare.
We are built on relationships and trust. Technology can accelerate analysis, but clients need lawyers who understand their objectives, exercise judgment, stand behind their advice, and can explain what technology can and cannot do. Reed Smith has been in Pittsburgh since 1877, and its deep client relationships, community roots, and willingness to evolve make me optimistic about the firm’s future here.
Want more? Read the Invest: Pittsburgh report.
