The Co-operative Group and Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) have appointed five firms to their first joint panel. Herbert Smith, Eversheds, Hammonds, Watson Burton and Addleshaw Goddard have won places on the panel to provide commercial legal advice after a tender process that saw about 20 firms pitch. The review was overseen by Peter Kerns and Philip Hardman, legal heads at CFS and The Co-operative Group respectively.