Eversheds managing partner David Gray has returned from his rescue mission to Honda empty handed. The firm will not be advising Honda in the near future.


Eversheds managing partner David Gray has returned from his rescue mission to Honda empty handed. The firm will not be advising Honda in the near future.

As revealed by The Lawyer (21 March), Honda general counsel Christopher Morgan dumped Eversheds earlier in the year and issued a stinging rebuke, accusing the firm of superficial customer relationship management.

Gray and Morgan agreed to say no more than that they had an amicable meeting. But Morgan did add that Eversheds would not be readmitted to his panel and that the firm’s lawyers had been very efficient in transferring matters that were active.

Honda had used Eversheds’ Leeds office for litigation work, but Morgan was unimpressed when the firm’s client relationship partner could not even say where Honda was based.

Eversheds’ management hastily arranged the meeting when The Lawyer revealed Morgan’s fury. It is understood that Gray’s mission was to discover what went wrong rather than just being a futile PR exercise.

Honda revamped its panel earlier in the year, appointing DLA Piper, McDermott Will & Emery, Osborne Clarke and Wragge & Co. Morgan has issued the firms with taxing questionnaires aimed at cementing the relationships.