Freshfields, Slaughters sidelined as Links gets the nod from

German industrial group Linde unveiled what it believes is a new legal model today - 'The Linde Model'. Imaginative.

As in-house lawyers look at ever-more ways to save cash, a cull of law firms seems to be the vogue model. Just recently Tyco unveiled its 'Smarter' model, which gave Eversheds a sole adviser's role.

DLA Piper was the big winner for Linde's day-to-day legal work, but the big surprise was the choice of Linklaters as corporate counsel. See story.

It was wrongly presumed that either Freshfields or Slaughters would win the role, having advised on either side of the Linde-BOC merger.

Linklaters shared corporate advisory duties with Slaughters for BOC, which is where Linde general counsel Nick Deeming worked.

Deeming said in a statement: "Linklaters excelled in the selection process and has a commitment to relationship management that is totally in keeping with the goals of the review."

Which doesn't say much for Slaughters' and Freshfields' relationship management skills. Both will rue another FTSE client lost.