Corporate counsel have overwhelmingly backed the panel system as a way to choose their legal advisers. In the latest Legal Week Benchmarker survey of in-house lawyers, carried out in association with Eversheds, a resounding 95% of respondents said the panel they have in place has met their expectations.
Not every firm has a formal panel of advisers, but the popularity of the model has been growing. The survey results showed 43% of respondents had a formal panel of firms in place. And respondents also revealed a commitment to continue with formal panels, with 94% of those polled falling into this category. Only 6% of respondents to the Benchmarker survey said they want to move back to the traditional adviser-client model.
