The legal teams at the NHS regulator and all other adult healthcare supervisory bodies have been overhauled with the creation of super-watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The CQC takes over the regulatory functions of ­previous adult health and social care regulators the Commission for Social Care Inspection, the Healthcare Commission and the Mental Health Act Commission.

Louise Guss, the former head of legal at the Commission for Social Care Inspection, has been appointed as head of legal at the CQC in Newcastle upon Tyne. She will run an expanded in-house team of 33.

Field Fisher Waterhouse partner Neil Palmer advised the CQC on its creation. The CQC has appointed firms on an interim basis to two external panels – a core panel advising on health and social care regulation and a non-core panel advising on corporate, employment, IP/IT and property.