The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has renewed its panel of legal advisers, with Bevan Brittan, Dentons and Jones Day among those being axed.
Burness Paull, Kingsley Napley and Pitmans have also been removed as the other 16 firms who make up PPF’s legal panel have been given a one-year extension.
The process was overseen by PPF general counsel David Taylor, with firms being reorganised to fit into three sections: a core panel, an insolvency and corporate panel and a specialist and reserve panel.
Clyde & Co and Gowling WLG make up the revised panel of core advisers. When PPF last reviewed its panels in 2013, the core panel line-up consisted of Clydes, Dentons and Wragge & Co.
Addleshaw Goddard, Herbert Smith Freehills and Squire Patton Boggs are among 11 firms that make up the insolvency and corporate panel, which guides the PPF on restructuring matters.
The specialist and reserve panel, which is designed to provide additional strength and depth in areas such as litigation and investment work, features Fieldfisher, Bond Dickinson and Mayer Brown.
Launched in 2014, the PPF’s assessment period legal panel, which assists with the transition of PPF schemes, comprises of Burges Salmon, Clydes, DWF, Eversheds, Norton Rose Fulbright and Osborne Clarke.
PPF is considered one of the most important institutions in the pensions industry, and paid out £616m in compensation to its members in 2016, a 9% rise on 2015. The PPF’s performance report for the 2015/16 financial year also states that there is a 93% likelihood of the institution being financially self-sufficient by 2030.
tom.baker@legalease.co.uk
Read more analysis in: ‘A buyers’ market – The trends and traumas in adviser reviews’
