Clifford Chance (CC) and Mayer Brown have won hotly-contested places on Nomura's new EMEA legal roster.

The Japanese investment bank finalised the line-up last week (22 November), with CC and Mayer Brown joining existing advisers Allen & Overy (A&O), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, Travers Smith and Ashurst on the seven-firm line-up.

Norton Rose and Dewey & LeBoeuf have both been removed from the bank's panel following the review, which was kicked off in July by co-European general counsel Mark Chapman and Piers Le Marchant.

The new-look panel marks the bank's first attempt to rationalise its external legal counsel since it took on Lehman Brothers' European and Middle Eastern equities and investment banking businesses in 2008, alongside its Asia-Pacific operations.

SJ Berwin and Osborne Clarke, which have both advised Nomura in the past despite not sitting on the formal panel, will continue to work with the bank on an ad hoc basis but have not been added to the official line-up. Norton Rose and Dewey confirmed that they no longer sit on Nomura's panel, with a spokesperson for Dewey adding that the US law firm will continue to work with the bank.

Commenting on the review process, one partner at a panel firm said: "Interestingly, there was little talk about hourly rates during the negotiations. The bank was more interested in so-called 'value accounts' – guaranteed training sessions and secondees."

The review's completion comes four weeks after it emerged that Chapman was leaving Nomura to take up a role at Barclays as head of legal for its global retail banking division.

Chapman, who will join Barclays this month, will be overseeing the business' global legal function across 21 countries.