Manchester’s Pannone has secured a key role acting for a group of farmers threatening to sue the Government in a landmark £40m negligence case.

Pannone commercial litigation partner Alex Megaw was instructed in December by a group of 62 pig farmers wanting to take the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to court over claims that a negligent Government vet put them out of business during the 2001 foot-and-mouth crisis.