Linde's chief legal officer Nick Deeming is to leave the gas and engineering giant at the end of September.

The company confirmed the departure but refused to comment on any replacement.

Deeming is one of the UK's best-known in-house lawyers and in May last year held talks with a number of business schools about the creation of the first-ever MBA course specifically designed for in-house lawyers.

News of his departure will be of interest to European advisers including DLA Piper, Linklaters, Hengeler Mueller and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, which in February were all appointed to Linde's first-ever formal panel.

DLA Piper was handed responsibility for advising the company on the majority of its day-to-day legal matters, while the heavyweight corporate trio will be in line to advise on big-ticket transactional work.

Deeming, who joined legacy company BOC 2001, oversaw the four-month review. That followed the £7.5bn merger between Linde and UK rival BOC, which completed last September. Prior to the creation of the panel, BOC and Linde together had links with around 150 law firms in total.