Orange squeezes Bevan Brittan out of new panel

Mobile ;phone ;giant Orange ;has ;left ;Bevan Brittan out of its new-look panel.

The phone and internet provider began a panel review in April last year and has settled on an enlarged roster of 13 firms.

Key advisers Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) and Olswang ;have ;been retained, while US advisers Baker & McKenzie and Mayer Brown also won places on the panel.

But there was no room for Bevan Brittan or Carter Lemon Camerons, both of which had been providing regional property advice.

Beachcroft is the main addition ;to ;the ;list, along with Kidd Rapinet, ­Shepherd & Wedderburn, Ward ;Haddaway ;and ­Worthingtons Solicitors.

The panel is rounded out by Burges Salmon, Cobbetts, Eversheds and TLT.

Orange’s UK-based head of legal and regulatory Amanda Doyle said she had chosen firms that delivered “quality of service and value for money”.

The company, which runs the mobile and internet business of the Orange Group, spends around £2.5m a year on external legal advice, most of which goes to real estate advisers.

FFW and Olswang have both handled large-scale technology and competition disputes for Orange in recent years, while Mayer Brown was instructed last year on a site-sharing agreement.

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