Legal & General is putting the final touches to its property panel with long-term adviser Berwin Leighton Paisner looking set to lose work to rival firms.
It is understood that existing advisers including Eversheds and LG will pick up much of the insurer’s property work, alongside Olswang, which is thought to have been added to the roster.
Legal & General kicked off its panel review in July, focusing initially on its property advisers. The review followed Vinay Veneik, Legal & General’s main relationship partner at BLP, resigning from the City firm in January. At the time the insurer denied claims that the review was prompted by Veneik’s resignation.
Veneik quit BLP following allegations that he had not paid stamp duty or registered transfers of property for some of his completed deals. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) launched a formal investigation into his departure in April.
Legal & General’s panel – last updated in 2004 – is divided into five different parts covering, the company’s group work, UK operations, investment management, real estate and private equity matters.
The last review saw BLP, Clyde & Co, Eversheds, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Halliwells, LG, Linklaters, Macfarlanes and Slaughter and May appointed onto the first three sub-panels. Meanwhile BLP, Clifford Chance, Eversheds, and LG were all appointed for property work, while Ashurst, CMS Cameron McKenna, Macfarlanes, Norton Rose and Taylor Wessing joined the private equity roster.
Legal & General and BLP both declined to comment on the latest review.
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