Pearson has named Charles Russell Speechlys and DWF as its principal advisors on employment work.
The firms were appointed in a tender process which kicked off in November. Pearson said it was aiming to realign its use of legal resources for employment work as well as ensuring it had the right balance of in-house and external expertise.
The panel process was led by group general counsel Bjarne Tellmann and associate general counsel for human resources George Costello. The pair were assisted by in-house employment lawyer Will Nash, who joined Pearson last July from Charles Russell Speechlys.
Tellmann said: “We were impressed with the very high quality of law firms applying for the panel. Ultimately our decision was based on a number of factors, including the experience and skill levels of the lawyers, depth and breadth of the various practices, an ability and willingness to utilise technology and a clear commitment to diversity and social consciousness.”
He added that the firms’ ability to serve Pearson across the UK and provide more cost-effective advice from outside London was also key.
Charles Russell Speechlys has offices in Cheltenham and Guildford as well as London, while DWF has a large Manchester office and nine other regional bases around the country.
Pearson is currently looking more closely at its global external relationships, with Tellmann telling The Lawyer last year that the company was redesigning “the entire legal function” and moving it into a “cluster matrix structure, working across geographies with a much closer focus on the business.”
Seven firms won places on the publisher’s first corporate and IT and commercial panels towards the end of 2015, including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills, DLA Piper and Pinsent Masons.