Freshfields pushed off Citibank panel

Slaughter and May and Linklaters & Alliance have been appointed as recommended corporate counsel to global banking giant Citibank - while Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is unlikely to see "any substantive work again".

A senior Citibank lawyer confirmed the appointments and the end of Freshfields role as a primary adviser following the results of the long-awaited review of the banking group's Europe-wide panel.

Other new advisers include US firms Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Weil Gotshal & Manges, which have been appointed for UK banking work on the panel for the first time. One Citibank lawyer told Legal Week: "These firms have excellent practices in New York and we will be using them in London."

The insider stressed that one criteria for entry on the panel was "loyalty", a fundamental he said was missing from Freshfields since it acted against the bank on behalf of Prince Jeffri Bolkiah and the Brunei Investment Authority in a dispute over assets in 1999.

The news will be a bitter blow for Freshfields - Citigroup's global legal budget is worth more than £150m a year.
Allen & Overy, Shearman & Sterling, Clifford Chance, Denton Wilde Sapte and Norton Rose have all secured places on various panels that span products and regions all over the world, including acquisitions, finance, leverage finance and projects work.

Any of the firms that have acted for any of Citibank's entities, including Schroders and Salomon Smith Barney, will remain on the panel.

The appointments end the long-awaited review started by Laurie Adams before he left for ABN Amro last November.

Brad Gans, the bank's new general counsel, who replaced him from New York, is unhappy with the UK-style panel system but is keeping it in place primarly for price discount considerations.