FTSE 100 property development and investment company British Land has conducted its first law firm panel review, with seven firms making it onto the main panel and nine onto its specialist roster.

Addleshaw Goddard, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells and Mayer Brown have retained their place on the main list, joined by new members Ashurst, Osborne Clarke and Taylor Wessing.

King & Wood Mallesons, formerly one of British Land’s main advisers, has not been included this time round.

Law.com reported that KWM alumni who left before the firm’s European arm collapsed in 2016 and have long-standing relationships with British Land are among those to win places in the refresh with their new firms. One such alumnus is former KWM Europe managing partner William Boss, who joined Addleshaw at the beginning of 2017. And boutique planning specialist Town Legal, co-founded by KWM’s former head of planning and environmental law Simon Ricketts, has been awarded a place on the specialist panel.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Jones Day and Simmons & Simmons are also on the specialist roster this time round, having been moved over from the main list. Freshfields is set to advise on group corporate and board advisory, Jones Day on investments work and Simmons on treasury, tax, regulatory and group corporate.

The other firms to secure a place on the specialist panel are Baker McKenzie for employment and pensions, Carey Olsen for Jersey law, CMS for tax, Gill Jennings & Every for intellectual property and Shepherd & Wedderburn for Scottish law.

British Land’s general counsel and company secretary Brona McKeown commented: “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.”  

In other appointments news, top 50 UK law firm TLT and its consortium partners McDermott Will & Emery and Borden Ladner Gervais have been awarded a contract to advise the UK’s international trade department on three critical trade negotiations, as it seeks to shape the country’s post-Brexit trading landscape.