UK electricity and gas regulator Ofgem has picked 11 firms to sit on its legal panel following a six-month review on how and where to spend its £3m annual budget. Addleshaw Goddard, Bevan Brittan, Bond Pearce, Burges Salmon, Hogan Lovells, Maclay Murray & Spens, Nabarro, Pinsent Masons, Sharpe Pritchard and Simmons & Simmons all made it onto the panel to advise Ofgem E Serve, a division of Ofgem focused on administering environmental and fuel poverty reduction programmes and the delivery of sustainability projects such as Offshore Transmission. The Lawyer newspaper reports that the panel review – launched in June 2012 – sought to find firms with expertise in energy regulation, EU law, procurement, intellectual property and technology to advise across London and Glasgow.
Meanwhile, embattled bank Barclays is speeding towards a restructuring of its in-house legal team, having recruited the former head of England’s financial watchdog to lead its compliance division. Hector Sants, the ex-chief executive of the Financial Services Authority is reported by the Financial Times to have bagged a £3m salary package from the bank, which was slapped earlier this year for manipulating interbank interest rates. The Lawyer reports that the hire will see a small number of Barclays employees, who previously reported to group general counsel Mark Harding, now report to Mr Sants. He will take up the position on 21 January following a five-year spell at the financial watchdog.
Hot on the heels of Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group has announced the appointment of FSA general counsel Andrew Whittaker, who will join the bank as its most senior lawyer in the second quarter of next year. Mr Whittaker has been the FSA’s general counsel since 2000, reports the Financial Times; at Lloyds, he will report to Juan Colombus, the bank’s chief risk officer.
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