The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has appointed 24 firms to its panel of intervention agents, which deals with firms where there is deemed to be a risk to client money.

The panel, which was announced yesterday and will run for three years, was selected after a competitive tender process involving 59 firms. Initially, 166 firms expressed an interest in applying.

Blake Lapthorn, DWF, Hill Dickinson, Kennedys, Michelmores, Morgan Cole, Foot Anstey, and Gordons were among the firms to win places on the panel.

Of the 24 firms appointed, nine had not previously been on the panel, including DWF, Kennedys and Morgan Cole.

The intervention panel has powers to investigate on behalf of the SRA in the case of law firms where there is deemed to be a serious risk to client interest and money. It has the power to shut firms down with immediate effect.

Agents are appointed to examine, rectify and verify the accounting records of the intervened firm and can attempt to distribute the client account monies on the basis of those records.

SRA chief executive, Antony Townsend said: "We actively encouraged applications from all parts of the legal community and we were very pleased with the number and quality of responses. We have an excellent panel in place to help us with interventions, which are a key means of protecting the public."

Last month Charles Plant – formerly a partner at Herbert Smith (where he is currently a consultant) – was appointed as the new chair of the SRA, a post he is set to take up on 1 January 2010, replacing current chair Peter Williamson.