Balfour Beatty appoints Pinsent Masons as sole advisor on Retained Work

Under the terms of its new panel arrangements Balfour Beatty has split its external legal spend into two areas: 'business as usual' retained work, which is predictable and recurrent, and other legal services such as complex litigation and M&A.

With immediate effect, all new business as usual work will be carried out exclusively by Pinsent Masons, while a limited panel of law firms - of which Pinsent Masons is one - will act on complex and business critical legal work.

Chris Vaughan, Chief Corporate Officer at Balfour Beatty, said "After several months of analysis and discussion, I am pleased we have reached this innovative partnership with Pinsent Masons. This move aligns with our strategic business intents and will bring benefit to both parties over the coming years. For Balfour Beatty, in addition to the substantial cost savings and closer strategic relationship with Pinsent Masons, the management information we receive will enable us to proactively manage legal risk across our UK business."

Alastair Morrison, Head of Client Strategy at Pinsent Masons, said: "Pinsent Masons has historically done a mixture of both retained and business-critical work for Balfour Beatty and a key component of this deal is that our client is effectively incentivised to use us on complex and critical work in the UK and internationally. Balfour Businesses of all shapes and sizes are having to respond to the new normal and we genuinely believe we are breaking new ground by offering a service which is not fundamentally based on the hourly rate."

Balfour Beatty has been a client of Pinsent Masons for over 35 years across a wide range of practice areas.