Focus Wickes new legal head to shake-up law firms

DIY giant Focus Wickes is set to overhaul its law firm panel following the appointment of a new head of legal.

As revealed by The Lawyer (4 October) Ian Thomson, a former in-house lawyer with Boots has taken over from Focus Wickes legal head Peter Rothwell who left for Drax Power.

Thomson said that a cursory assessment of external firms has revealed that Focus Wickes has "many more firms" than it needs.

Thomson told The Lawyer: "We want to rationalise things, to undertake a review and look at the scope for improving how things are run."

"It is fair to say that some of our advisers who have acted for us in the long term will continue, but we don’t want to state which firms we are using now as some of those might not be still acting for us in the long term."