French banking giant Societe Generale (SocGen) is reviewing its global panel of legal advisers, with a raft of City and international firms applying to be considered.

Firms will be appointed to the panel for a three-year period starting on 1 January, 2009, with the initial deadline for applications closing at the end of last month.

SocGen general counsel Frederic de Brouwer and deputy head of legal for Europe, competition law and group legal David Bourdon are understood to be co-ordinating the review.

The latest review will be SocGen's third, as it only drew up its first formal panel in 2003 before remodelling it during the last review process.

The bank last updated its advisers in 2006 when it added Linklaters and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe to its nine-firm global roster. The pair joined Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Gide Loyrette Nouel, Norton Rose, Shearman & Sterling and White & Case on the list of preferred advisers.

Previous panel members Herbert Smith, Denton Wilde Sapte and Lovells were dropped from the main global line-up.

In addition to the core global panel, the bank has separate national rosters in the UK and France. The bank also followed Barclays' lead and drew up 12 specialist sub-panels in 2006 covering areas such as M&A, high yield, equity capital markets, securitisation, structured products and hedge funds.

SocGen's review comes as Japanese bank Nomura prepares to unveil its list of preferred advisers in the autumn. The review is being led by European GC Mark Chapman, who replaced ex-Linklaters managing partner Terence Kyle as general counsel in 2007.

Additional reporting by Leigh Jackson.

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