Linklaters and Freshfields take lead on £182m Centrica Accenture litigation
Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have landed lead advisory roles on Centrica's £182m action against global consultancy group Accenture. The energy giant is suing Accenture in relation to a customer billing system designed for British Gas that Centrica argues led to a breakdown in customer services and the loss of thousands of customers.
May 15, 2008 at 01:52 AM
2 minute read
Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have landed lead advisory roles on Centrica's £182m action against global consultancy group Accenture.
The energy giant is suing Accenture in relation to a customer billing system designed for British Gas that Centrica argues led to a breakdown in customer services and the loss of thousands of customers.
Linklaters is acting for Centrica with head of advocacy Mark Humphries leading the firm's team. The firm has acted for Centrica in the past with other previous advisers including Allen & Overy (A&O) and Slaughter and May.
Accenture, meanwhile, has turned to Freshfields, where head of international arbitration Geoff Nicholas is leading the team.
Centrica filed its claim form with the High Court on 23 April, with the action expected to start this week.
According to Centrica, when the new system was rolled out during 2006-07 it became apparent there were problems. It argues that as a result British Gas was forced to make significant investments in extra staff and processes to fix these on top of the £300m initial investment, and that customer complaints to watchdog energywatch have fallen by 85% since Accenture left the programme.
In a statement British Gas said: "A subsequent independent analysis of the billing system has concluded that Accenture was responsible for fundamental errors in the design and implementation of the system. Unfortunately British Gas has been left with no option but to pursue legal redress against Accenture to compensate for its losses."
Accenture put the finishing touches to its panel line-up at the end of last year with A&O, Field Fisher Waterhouse, Baker & McKenzie and its main corporate adviser, Clifford Chance, all appointed.
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