British Land reshuffles its panel of firms after the first review

British Land reshuffles its panel of firms after the first review

The new roaster includes 16 law firms including seven firms making it to the main panel while the rest feature in the specialist panel of the property giant

British Land has announced its new panel of law firms that turns out be to a mixed bag.

Three new firms, Ashurst, Osborne Clarke and Taylor Wessing have joined Addleshaw Goddard, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells and Mayer Brown in the main list.

The changes were announced following the first review undertaken by the property giant.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Jones Day and Simmons & Simmons have been moved from the main panel to the specialist roster this time around. In all, nine firms feature in the specialist roaster. The other firms featuring in the specialist panel are Baker McKenzie (employment and pensions), Carey Olsen (Jersey law), CMS (tax), Gill Jennings & Every (intellectual property) and Shepherd & Wedderburn (Scottish law).

Under the new arrangement, Freshfields is set to advise the property giant on group corporate and board advisory, Jones Day on investments work and Simmons on treasury, tax, regulatory and group corporate.

A major omission from the panel is the King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) that no longer features in the list, which is mainly because some of the KWM lawyers who had close ties with British Land had quit the firm before its European arm collapsed in 2016. Some of them are back in the panel with their new firms. They include former KWM Europe managing partner William Boss, who joined Addleshaw at the beginning of 2017, boutique planning specialist Town Legal, co-founded by KWM's former head of planning and environmental law Simon Ricketts.

"The legal support we get from our law firm partners is an intrinsic component of the successful execution of our strategy, and our recent panel review was conducted to ensure that the changing needs of the business is met with a selection of lawyers. Our new panel, which will remain in place for three years, means we can partner with the right lawyer, for the right work, at the right price," British Land's general counsel and company secretary Brona McKeown said.