National Grid Transco (NGT) plans to review its main panel of advisers and has just appointed Hammonds for intellectual property (IP) and some property work following the post-merger restructuring of its legal function.
Senior counsel for commercial Ian Leedham said that the company would, in the near future, review its 25-strong panel, with a view to getting better value for money.
The energy delivery business has already decided to outsource its registration and management work for patents and trademark
matters for the first time.
Leedham said: “We had an in-house IP department, but as part of our restructuring after the merger we decided to outsource our patents and trademark portfolio.” The company previously had five staff advising on the work, which involves filing and prosecuting existing and new patents and trademarks worldwide.
Hammonds fought off competition from Pinsents and Addleshaw Goddard, as well as a number of the top trademark and patent attorney firms.
At the same time, Hammonds, plus Beachcroft Wansbroughs and Bristol firm TLT, are the three firms to survive a panel cull for NGT’s ‘Project Mayflower’.
The ongoing project, which was started in May 2000, involves NGT leasing a large proportion of is operational land and sites to mobile phone companies.
This panel review does not have any affect on the company’s general property advisers.