Eversheds is appointed to be in-house Barclaycard lawyer

Eversheds has been appointed as the in-house lawyer for Barclaycard under an arrangement which will see a solicitor based permanently at the headquarters of the credit card company.

Eversheds' Leeds head of litigation, Howard Bryan, said the solicitor would work alongside the large in-house legal team at Barclaycard.

He said the move would protect Barclaycard from the £50,000 in legal notification costs it incurred each time one of its in-house lawyers left.

This problem would be avoided by bringing the firm of Eversheds, as opposed to an individual, into the office, Bryan explained. He said that Eversheds and Barclaycard would be litigating in partnership.

The Eversheds solicitor's contract will initially be for one year and is then expected to be renewed on a three-yearly basis.

"Obviously this is a very nice way of getting close to your client," said Bryan.

Eversheds may now look to establish similar arrangements with other clients but Bryan warned that it took time to build relationships where both sides would be happy to enter comparable deals.

Barclaycard litigation and agency manager Tony King said the agreement was a natural progression from existing arrangements with Eversheds.