L'Oreal has appointed Baker & McKenzie as its primary UK legal adviser, following a review by the beauty products giant of its external legal advisers in the region.

The cosmetics company appointed Bakers at the end of last year after a competitive tender process, cementing a longstanding relationship between the firm and L'Oreal.

The agreement will see Bakers advise L'Oreal on most aspects of UK law including corporate and commercial, antitrust, competition, employment and intellectual property (IP) advice.

Beachcroft has been named as L'Oreal's primary adviser for real estate work in the UK, with an unknown firm reappointed to advise in relation to debt collection matters. Beachcroft also has a longstanding relationship with L'Oreal.

Bakers IP partner Paul Rawlinson led the firm's pitch to L'Oreal UK general counsel and company secretary Martin Dupras and will manage the firm's relationship with the company. The international law firm saw off competition from firms including Reed Smith to secure the mandate.

Neither L'Oreal nor Bakers would comment on the appointment, which comes after Bakers was appointed as the primary global legal adviser for brewing company Carlsberg in December last year.

At the time, Bakers beat around a dozen firms to secure a mandate to advise the drinks giant on corporate, banking and finance, antitrust and major cross-border commercial work. Norton Rose was appointed for dispute resolution work, with Kromann Reumert named as Carlsberg's Danish legal adviser.