GTM to provide all Colt's employment advice after BLP deal falters

GTM was appointed after a contested proposal process involving a number of law firms and has been contracted to provide UK employment-law advice to the business telecoms and IT provider’s 12 European offices for an initial term of three years. GTM will also help the company train HR staff and management on employment issues, as well as developing internal know-how at the FTSE250 company.

Details of the fee arrangement were not disclosed, but a statement from GTM said that the firm offered “a responsive alignment with Colt’s budgetary requirements”.

“What we look for when choosing a law firms is innovation, flexibility and value,” said a spokesperson for Colt.

When asked whether the company was looking to sign similar deals with GTM for areas other than employment, the spokesperson said: “We’re constantly looking at the market for legal services and look for the best possible arrangement we can find.”

The news comes just over a year after Colt came close to signing a five-year contract with BLP’s (20 September 2010) Managed Legal Service arm.

As was the case with GTM, BLP was asked to manage all the company’s employment work. However, although Colt and BLP signed a memorandum of understanding, the two parties could not agree on exact terms, and the tie-up was not finalised. Colt has instructed BLP on occasion since the agreement failed. The deal with GTM has been finalised, according to the Colt spokesperson.

The collapse of the deal means that BLP’s Managed Legal Service has one client – Thames Water, which signed a deal reportedly worth £5m a year for five years with the firm in 2010 (25 March 2010).