Treasury Solicitor's Office launches two panels amid services overhaul

The Treasury Solicitor's Office has unveiled two new legal panels as it reviews the way it provides services to clients.

As first revealed on www.thelawyer.com (6 March), both panels will run for three years initially.

The Lit Cat (Litigation Catalogue) panel focuses on debt recovery, following the closure of the Treasury Solicitor's own debt recovery team.

Hugh James Solicitors, Irwin Mitchell, Lester Aldridge, Prettys, Reed Smith and Salans have all won places on the Lit Cat panel.

The second panel will handle work for regular Treasury Solicitor client Ofsted, and consists of Anthony Collins Solicitors, Bevan Brittan, Borneo Linnells, Field Fisher Waterhouse, Jones Myers Partnership, and Sternberg Reed Taylor & Gill.

Further panels are also being developed. The first - to be known as 'Lit Cat Phase Two', focusing on basic litigation and criminal services, will be settled by 1 June. A panel to service the Department for Trade and Industry is on the drawing board. For phase three of the Lit Cat panels, the Treasury Solicitor's Office is examining a roster of selected experts.

Salans partner Caroline Harvey, who heads the firm's Bromley office, said the firm was delighted to be appointed to the panel.