BP has selected nine firms to provide niche legal services as part of its wider panel. Firms appointed are Baker & McKenzie, Fieldfisher, Hill Dickinson, Holman Fenwick Willan, Reed Smith, Stevens & Bolton, Sullivan & Cromwell, Watson Farley & Williams and arbitration boutique Three Crowns.
The agreement, which will last until 2017, starts with immediate effect and will cover BP’s specialist activity in the UK.
BP unveiled its 2014 core panel for UK-instructed legal work earlier this month which saw firms like Ashurst, Simmons & Simmons and Addleshaw Goddard all added to the oil major’s roster.
While Fieldfisher was the only firm to lose its place on the revamped panel, it now sits on the panel that provides niche advice.
The panel win is a significant coup for recently launched arbitration boutique Three Crowns, set up by heavyweight arbitrators including Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer’s Constantine Partasides, former arbitration co-chair Jan Paulsson and former Covington & Burling’s London-based international arbitration co-chair Gaetan Verhoosel earlier this year. The new firm will hit the ground running with over 30 cases from BP.
Three Crowns founding partner Constantine Partasides QC said: ‘We at 3C are particularly proud to be given the opportunity to deepen our relationship with BP. Our appointment confirms our belief that sophisticated users of legal services see the benefit of a niche, focussed, global arbitration offering for the most complex international disputes.’
Jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
