Report: In rare move, Britain’s National Grid scrubs three law firms from its panel

The U.K.-based site Legal Business reports that BDB Pitmans, Irwin Mitchell and Norton Rose Fulbright have been dropped from National Grid’s panel, which it says is  worth about $15.4 million a year in the UK alone. The move, report Legal Business, followed an extensive tender process in which firms pay to compete for spots.

Womble Bond Dickinson is the sole new law firm on a roster which reduced the number of advisers from 12 to 10. The panel review, which began in May this year, was potentially going to reduce the number of law firms to six, but Addleshaw Goddard, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, Dentons, DLA Piper, Eversheds Sutherland, Herbert Smith Freehills, Linklaters and Shakespeare Martineau all retained their spots.

National Grid’s general counsel,  Alison Kay, told Legal Business that more than 60 firms applied. The new contract begins on 1 February 2020 for three years, with an option to extend for a further two years. The panel was previously extended in 2017 following the last full review in 2015. ‘The key objective of the review was to create a panel that is efficient, effective, future-facing and innovative,’ Kay told the site.