EasyJet has announced that is to embark upon its first-ever panel review in the same week as it emerged that easyGroup has reviewed its advisers, naming mostly national firms on its new roster.

The budget airline, which has traditionally appointed law firms on an ad hoc basis, is in the process of reviewing its advisers exactly one year on from appointing a new general counsel and company secretary.

The news will be of interest to easyJet's advisers, which include City firms Norton Rose, Denton Wilde Sapte and Herbert Smith. Norton Rose replaced Dentons as the company's primary legal adviser in 2000.

Meanwhile, easyGroup, the company that manages easyJet's brand and others including easyPizza and easyInternetcafe, has appointed firms including Cobbetts, Collyer Bristow and Clarke Willmott to its informal panel, which was overhauled earlier this year after an internal restructuring at the company.

Midlands firms Needham & James and Harvey Ingram have also been handed mandates, while historical adviser DLA Piper remains on the panel.

The company, which manages the brands of its 17 franchises, last revamped its panel of advisers in 2003 when it cut the amount of legal work that easyGroup outsourced. Addleshaw Goddard, Wragge & Co, Norton Rose and Dentons were then appointed to the company's trademark litigation and intellectual property (IP) panel after a series of disputes involving the easyGroup brand.

Norton Rose no longer has a mandate for IP work at the company but continues to advise easyJet itself, as does Dentons, which also undertakes IP work for easyGroup in continental Europe.

Collyer Bristow replaced Dentons to represent easyGroup on the company's battle with Orange in a trademark infringement case in 2006.

The changes follow the appointment of former Monstermob head of legal Anthony Robb-John as easyGroup's managing director last December.