One of the UK’s big six energy suppliers, EDF Energy, has nearly halved its external advisers in a bid to plug into ‘deeper’ relationships, while the addition of two new firms mirrors the refreshment seen elsewhere in the Co-operative Group’s revamped legal panel.
In late April, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) were added to EDF’s new panel of eight firms, which has been cut from the previous 14.
Baker McKenzie, Herbert Smith Freehills, Pinsent Masons, Eversheds Sutherland, Squire Patton Boggs and Burges Salmon all retained places on the panel, while Clifford Chance, Dentons, TLT, Osborne Clarke, Veale Wasbrough Vizards, Kennedys, Weightmans and Foot Anstey lost their spots.
The review of the panel – which will run until 2020 – was led by EDF chief legal officer Guido Santi. The cull was intended to bring EDF closer to firms that could advise across the various businesses it has within the energy sector, including nuclear power stations and supplying electricity and gas to businesses and homes.
Santi commented: ‘We believe that building deeper and broader relationships with a smaller number of panel firms will help ensure we get effective, strategic legal advice and cost efficiencies too. This has not happened by accident; it is the positive outcome of a very complex process that has required a lot of dedication, planning and forward thinking but has had the ultimate advantage of bringing us closer to our preferred firms with a better understanding of their expectations.’
In May, the Co-op Group also introduced a couple of fresh faces to its legal panel of seven firms working alongside primary adviser Allen & Overy (A&O).
Newly-appointed firms Fieldfisher and Squire join Addleshaw Goddard, Pinsents, Hill Dickinson, Brodies and Paris Smith for a three-year term, following a review that began last year. The new panel brings together the group’s corporate, commercial and property panels.
Co-op head of legal operations, Helen Lowe, and head of legal and digital, Peter Horsfall, led the review with procurement manager Peter McHugh. TLT and Weightmans had both previously held panel spots with the group.
The group has five core businesses in the food, electrical, insurance, funeral care and legal services sectors, spread across 3,750 outlets. It began reviewing its panels last year around the time former Dixons Carphone group general counsel Helen Grantham replaced Alistair Asher in the top legal role. Asher, a former A&O partner, moved into a new role as director of special projects for the business.