Petroleum giant Shell will cut its legal spend significantly by imposing a panel of core international law firms on its global operations in relation to non-domestic work.

Legal services co-ordinator Clive Grant and UK general counsel Richard Wiseman will announce the four or five core firms - with around ten additional firms for specific practice areas including mergers and acquisitions - by September.


Only firms already acting for Shell have been considered for the panel, through an informal process. These include City practices Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy, Simmons and Simmons, Denton Wilde Sapte, and US firms Baker & MacKenzie and Cravath Swaine & Moore.