Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) and Schillings have bagged roles advising on a libel claim arising from the high-profile divorce of Sir Paul McCartney.

Payne Hicks Beach family partner Fiona Shackleton – who is representing the former Beatle in his ongoing divorce – and her firm are suing Associated Newspapers over alleged implications that smear tactics would be used in the case.

The claim was brought last month after an article was published in the London Evening Standard headlined 'So, Macca – where's Mr Nice Guy now?'

Shackleton and Payne Hicks Beach have instructed Schillings, while RPC media partner Liz Hartley has been instructed by longstanding client Associated Newspapers, which published the article.

The article, which appeared on 20 October and was written by columnist AN Wilson, said: "Just as Payne Hicks Beach tried to make out that Lady Di was a manipulative or dis-honest person, we all knew by the end of that divorce where the truth lay."