Two major companies have made moves to slash their legal costs with industrial giant Honeywell set to cut more than 100 advisers from its European roster and the Bank of Ireland (BOI) paring off a quarter of its in-house team.

Ireland's largest bank, which kicked off its restructuring last summer, has shrunk its legal team from around 90 to 64 lawyers and support staff.

BOI head of legal Finbarr Murphy led the restructuring, which has centralised most of the bank's Irish-based lawyers in a new office close to the bank's Dublin headquarters.

Murphy said: "The move is designed to ensure that all areas of expertise are available."

In addition to its internal reshuffle, the bank has also reviewed its external advisers, appointing Herbert Smith to its panel for the first time.

BOI's UK panel is otherwise largely unchanged. Other firms include Slaughter and May, DLA Piper, Burges Salmon, Linklaters, Norton Rose and Denton Wilde Sapte.

Sullivan & Cromwell continues to advise the bank in the US and the bank's historic Irish advisers, including Dublin heavyweights A&L Goodbody and Arthur Cox, have also been reappointed.

The bank's legal overhaul comes as US conglomerate Honeywell gears up to launch its first-ever review of its European advisers. The company plans to drastically reduce the number of firms it uses in the region, cutting down its current roster of more than 130 firms to a main panel of just four or five.

The review is being led by Honeywell's general counsel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Jerome Maironi, who has sent out letters inviting firms to tender.

The US company, which has revenues of $31.4bn (£17.3bn), is well known for its aggressive cost-cutting processes, especially in the procurement of outsourced services.

Lovells corporate partner Nigel Read commented: "Large corporations have got wise to the savings that can be achieved through procurement processes; these methods are only just breaking into legal departments. The trick is to strike a balance between procurement needs and the quality of work you get from your firms."