Transport for London (TfL) has announced the 19 law firms appointed to its new panel, valued at £120m (excluding VAT), with the agreement set to be in place for a minimum of four years with the option to extend it by up to two years.
The legal panel was last updated in 2019, and this year keeps the same structure, dividing the work into eight separate categories: employment law, major commercial matters, rail industry matters, routine commercial and real estate matters (contentious and non-contentious), housing matters, complex property and commercial development matters, major consents matters, town and planning, and highways matters.
Addleshaw Goddard and Eversheds Sutherland came out on top this time, with seven appointments each across the eight distinct areas.
The majority of the law firms appointed this year are reappointments, including:
- Addleshaw Goddard
- Ashurst
- BCLP
- Burges Salmon
- Eversheds Sutherland
- Gowling WLG
- Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer
- K&L Gates
- Pinsent Masons
- Stephenson Harwood
- Trowers & Hamlins
- Womble Bond Dickinson
Five of these 12 firms were new appointments to the panel in 2019: Addleshaw Goddard, Burges Salmon, Stephenson Harwood, Pinsent Masons, and Womble Bond Dickinson.
Seven firms, meanwhile, won new appointments:
- Bird & Bird
- Browne Jacobson
- Freeths
- Sharpe Pritchard and Mills & Reeve (listed together)
- TLT LLP
- Town Legal LLP
Of these, Bird & Bird has secured a position on major commercial matters, as well as Sharpe Pritchard and Mills and Reeve. Freeths and TLT were appointed to routine commercial and real estate matters, Browne Jacobson to housing, and Town Legal to town and country planning.
Each of the new firms was appointed to one lot only.
The firms not returning to the panel are Broadfield (formerly BDB Pitmans), Dentons and DLA Piper.
TfL has undertaken a number of significant projects in the last six years, most notably the completion of the Elizabeth Line, which opened in 2022. Stephenson Harwood advised on the delivery of Crossrail, the infrastructure supporting the new line.
Recent engagement by some of the firms reappointed to the panel include Eversheds Sutherland, which advised TfL on its £2.8bn competitive procurement proceedings for new media partners last September. Global and JCDecaux were appointed, and will handle all advertising across all TfL’s transport infrastructure over the next eight years.
The following month Ashurst successfully advised TfL on its new eight-year contract to handle the operation and maintenance of the DLR, with KeolisAmey, which has run the franchise for the past decade.
Meanwhile, in July of this year Burges Salmon advised TfL on its procurement for a power purchase agreement (PPA), which was awarded to EDF Energy Renewables Limited, to build a new solar facility near Longfield, Essex, with 20% of its output guaranteed to TfL.
