Sainsbury’s unveils new panel as Lloyds appoints insurance GC

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Significant in-house announcements in May saw King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin and TLT awarded first-time spots on Sainsbury’s panel, while Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) appointed RSM Tenon’s former group general counsel (GC) Joanne Jolly to lead its insurance group.

Sainsbury’s recently concluded the third review of what it calls its ‘legal community’: a 12-strong collaborative law firm panel, which saw reappointments for Addleshaw Goddard; Bond Dickinson; CMS Cameron McKenna; Croner; Dentons; DWF; Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co; Linklaters; Shepherd and Wedderburn; and Winckworth Sherwood.

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Life During Law: Nilufer von Bismarck

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There were different challenges during the downturn, you had to look to different markets. Challenges are always there and you are always after that next deal or that new client. I don’t think you could be here for 24 years without still being ambitious for that.

Working on the bailout was very intense – almost surreal, sitting in the Treasury trying to figure out how best it should be done. There was a deadline for having to announce something before the markets opened on the Monday. We all started on Saturday morning and worked all the way through to Monday morning. There were three banks we were looking at: RBS, Lloyds and HBOS, and then the Lloyds/HBOS combination. Each had a different thing to think about, they all had their own lawyers so there were three sets of documentation. The challenges faced and the creativity needed to get that off the ground were a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

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Worth the money: Barclays to introduce value accounts for upcoming legal panel

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Failure to meet value targets set to result in firms partially refunding banking giant

As Barclays’ long-awaited review of its global legal panel moves closer to completion, it has emerged that the bank is set to shake up how it interacts with its external advisers with the introduction of corporate value accounts.

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The Crown Estate’s Peeke to join Land Securities in legal head role

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Land Securities, the UK’s largest listed property company, has hired The Crown Estate’s deputy head of legal Alex Peeke as head of legal, taking over the day-to-day conduct of the legal function and operations and reporting to group general counsel (GC) and company secretary Adrian de Souza.

Peeke has been with The Crown Estate, which owns an £8bn-plus portfolio of commercial property, since 2009. He is responsible for the day-to-day management of legal risk and is the legal lead on joint ventures, which have become the most important feature of the implementation of The Crown Estate’s redevelopment strategy for its prestigious Central London estate.

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ITV pulls in panel firms in new development programme

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ITV is taking steps to embed its law firms in the fabric of the organisation by involving them in a new programme of training and development with its lawyers.

The initiative, spearheaded by ITV’s director of legal affairs and third-party sales relationships, Barry Matthews, together with general counsel (GC) Andrew Garard, will see ITV roll out a four-prong development programme this year that will see it work closely with panel firms to help them understand its strategy and commercial imperatives.

For lawyers with more than two years’ PQE, ITV has partnered with Olswang to run a ‘peer partnership programme’, in which private practice and in-house lawyers research and write together a piece of management consultancy to present to Garard and Olswang chief executive David Stewart.

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Davenport Lyons goes into administration as Gordon Dadds takes on business

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After two rounds of failed merger talks Davenport Lyons went into administration at the end of April, with Mayfair firm Gordon Dadds confirming that it had taken on the client database, the majority of assets and secured nearly all of the partners of the West End firm.

The terms of the sale were agreed the week before by joint administrator Baker Tilly. A spokesman from Davenport Lyons said: ‘As of close of business on Friday 25 April, the legal entity known as Davenport Lyons ceased trading and the majority of the company’s client balances, work in progress and client files have been transferred to Gordon Dadds, who will also be collecting debtor balances on behalf of the administrator.

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Latest partnership rounds confirm another tough year to make the grade at City leaders

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Partnership promotion figures unveiled in April saw a slight improvement on the dwindling numbers seen in earlier announcements, although still fall largely short of the 5% estimated to be needed to maintain partnerships at their current levels.

Linklaters and Clifford Chance (CC) made up 21 partners apiece and Herbert Smith Freehills 23, as Norton Rose Fulbright unveiled a post-merger figure of 46, and Ashurst similarly revealed it will make up 15 partners in the first round since its merger last year with Australia’s Blake Dawson.

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Irwin Mitchell’s outgoing chief executive John Pickering on change in the sector and why it was time to hang up his boots

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Announcing his retirement last month, Irwin Mitchell’s longstanding head and current group chief executive John Pickering pointed to ‘the changing legal sector’ and his desire for the firm to have settled long-term senior management.

Speaking to Legal Business, Pickering, who joined the firm as an articled clerk in 1977 and now plans to pursue non-executive director positions elsewhere, explains his reasoning behind the decision.

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BLP’s head of banking and finance litigation defects to King & Spalding

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Hughes’ exit follows spate of departures from international firm

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP)’s head of banking and finance litigation, David Hughes, is set to leave the firm to join the litigation team at King & Spalding.

Described by one former BLP partner as a ‘big-hitting litigator’, Hughes specialises in asset recovery (including ships and aircrafts) and security enforcement involving complicated capital markets products, as well as the enforcement of bond structures and International Swaps and Derivatives Association contracts. He also advises clients on fraud, financial irregularities and money laundering issues.

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Senior Clydes ship finance partner joins Curtis Davis Garrard

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Senior maritime player Matt Hannaford is leaving Clyde & Co’s transport finance group with a team of three to join specialist shipping boutique Curtis Davis Garrard (CDG).

The commercial shipping partner, who is particularly recognised for his work in ship finance, will join CDG alongside legal director Owen McHugh, who will join CDG as a partner.

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