Drinks giant InBev is to become the first-ever company to create a bespoke MBA course for its in-house lawyers.

The company is in the process of selecting a business school to offer a full MBA course to its lawyers. Western Europe and corporate general counsel Deepak Malhotra is spearheading the initiative.

The course will initially only be open to selected members of Malhotra's global corporate and 65-strong western European team, but is expected to be rolled out to the drinks giant's other legal teams.

"We are having conversations with three different business schools," said Malhotra. "We are developing modules and hope to be able to offer the course to some of our lawyers in January."

Growing numbers of commercial lawyers are being offered MBA-style training.

In November 2005, five top City firms agreed a deal with BPP University to incorporate aspects of MBA training into its Legal Practice Course.

Last year former Linde general counsel Nick Deeming called for an MBA programme for lawyers, dealing with issues such as compliance and management.

Deeming said: "It would be a benefit to all in-house counsel. It will give lawyers a better perspective and a better business grounding in what the market needs."

The news comes as Malhotra also kicks off a reshuffle of InBev's global corporate team in an effort to align the 12-strong unit more closely with the needs of the business.

The new-look department will be divided into four specialisms: intellectual property, corporate, employment law and M&A.