NHSLA unveils £400m panel as DAC and Hill Dicks win spots

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DAC Beachcroft, Kennedys, Hill Dickinson, Browne Jacobson and Weightmans are among 14 firms to have won places on the NHS Litigation Authority’s (NHSLA) expanded services legal panel, with a total legal spend of around £400m over four years.

The body that deals with claims from patients who have been harmed whilst under the care of the NHS today announced the conclusion of its two-month procurement process across three sub-panels: clinical liability; non-clinical liability; and regulatory, health and disciplinary (RHD). Continue reading “NHSLA unveils £400m panel as DAC and Hill Dicks win spots”

Shell completes review of global legal panel

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Linklaters, Norton Rose and Baker & McKenzie win spots

Royal Dutch Shell concluded its extensive global panel review at the end of May with firms including Allen & Overy (A&O) and Baker & McKenzie marked out to receive work across multiple jurisdictions.

The tender, which kicked off in March, went out to 357 firms in 20 jurisdictions. According to legal director Peter Rees QC, the aim was to find between two and five suitable firms for each practice area in each jurisdiction. These firms would then be ‘pre-qualified’ for Shell legal work and would compete with each other for significant mandates.

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Can you be sure of Shell? Coveted oil giant unveils new panel

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Eleven firms, including Allen & Overy (A&O) and Baker & McKenzie, have been successful in winning a place on Shell’s new global legal panel, which was unveiled yesterday (22 May).

The tender, which kicked off in March, went out to 357 firms in 20 jurisdictions. The aim, according to legal director Peter Rees QC, was to find between two and five suitable firms for each practice area in each jurisdiction who would then be ‘pre-qualified’ for Shell legal work and who would compete with each other for significant mandates. Continue reading “Can you be sure of Shell? Coveted oil giant unveils new panel”

Dentons wins spot as Network Rail announces panel revamp

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Network Rail has cut its legal roster from 12 to five core firms in a review that sees newly merged firm Dentons appointed to the panel.

Other firms awarded full service contracts for work in England and Wales are Bond Pearce (Bond Dickinson on 1 May), Eversheds and Addleshaw Goddard. Maclay Murray & Spens has been awarded the contract for Scottish law matters. All four were reappointed from the previous panel.

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Herbies and Hogan Lovells win places on Land Securities panel

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Land Securities has appointed Herbert Smith Freehills and Hogan Lovells to its revamped legal panel following a year-long review that ended in January. The largest commercial property company in the UK now has nine external law firms on its roster.

Group general counsel and company secretary Adrian de Souza has organised his law firms into two main panels, with Berwin Leighton Paisner, Eversheds, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Hogan Lovells and Nabarro placed on panel A, while panel B comprises Dundas & Wilson and Herbert Smith Freehills. There is also an additional specialist panel that contains Allen & Overy for finance and Clifford Chance for corporate work.

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Banks could face backlash on legal panel reviews

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With the latest round of bank panel reviews in full swing, early indications show signs of a backlash from law firms as banks place increasing demands on panel candidates at the same time as driving down costs.

In October, The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) announced the results of its long-running panel review. By reducing its number of sub-panels from 13 to five, it has significantly lowered the number of law firms on the panel from around 100 previously to between 55 and 60 now. Meanwhile, former panel firms Slaughter and May, Olswang and Mayer Brown didn’t pitch to join the panel this time around.

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NHSLA looks to control growing legal spend in panel review

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Newly appointed NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) chief executive Catherine Dixon’s priority will be getting value for money and using law firms to engage with NHS trusts as she prepares for a legal panel review later this year.

Dixon joined the NHSLA in April from the NSPCC where she was general counsel and company secretary. She was previously head of legal at Bupa and in private practice at Eversheds. She replaces outgoing NHSLA chief executive Steve Walker.

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Qatari Diar Panel – The In Crowd

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Qatari Diar is a trophy client for any firm with property or Middle East pretensions: being in the property company’s good books means working on some of the most prestigious real estate and finance deals across the world. Since it began life seven years ago, The Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company (known to panel firms simply as ‘QD’) has battled with the Candy brothers, financed London’s newest skyscraper the ‘Shard’ and even purchased the US Embassy’s old building in Mayfair. It now has 49 projects with a combined value of $35bn under development or planning in 20 countries around the world.

And to the delight of a handpicked few, the real estate investment company finalised its first-ever law firm panel in March, with 13 different firms making the cut onto one of the six sub-panels (see box, ‘The chosen ones, page 2). Continue reading “Qatari Diar Panel – The In Crowd”