RPC and Shoosmiths have been appointed to the UK legal panel of Coca-Cola Enterprises for the first time, with Lewis Silkin and Ashurst completing the quartet.

The review was conducted by the bottler’s vice president for legal Paul van Reesch, who leads a team of around 30 in-house lawyers in London. He joined the company back in 2004 and was made vice president for legal in 2011 after Jeff Kirsh returned to the US. 

It is believed to be Shoosmiths’ and RPC’s first appointment on the panel, with a number of RPC lawyers having been on secondments to the drinks brand Coca-Cola Company. 

Lewis Silkin and Ashurst have further won spots on Coca-Cola Enterprises’ panel, as well as Devereux Chambers which is understood to have been selected as preferred legal provider at the Bar. 

This year, Coca-Cola Enterprises merged with Coca-Cola Iberian Partners and Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetränke to create the world’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler based on net revenues.

In this deal, the company turned to Slaughter and May and Cahill Gordon & Reindel for legal counsel, as well as best friend firms Hengeler Mueller, Pérez-Llorca and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek.