Mobile phone giant Vodafone has kicked off a review of its global and UK legal advisers, with the overhaul marking the first time the UK panel has been updated in six years.

The review will cover the external law firms advising mobile operator Vodafone UK as well as those advising Vodafone Group globally. It will not cover local mobile operators outside the UK.

UK-based Vodafone Group competition head Nick Woodrow is leading the process, which started late last month and is expected to be completed in July.

Woodrow said the review is intended to see Vodafone scaling back its law firm advisers, with the company pushing for better value services from law firms, both in terms of pricing and value-added services.

The process will be keenly watched by the FTSE 100 company's current roster of advisers, which includes Linklaters at group level, as well as Herbert Smith, Baker & McKenzie, Osborne Clarke and Pinsent Masons for the UK arm. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer also advises Vodafone Group, and last year acted on the £4.3bn sale of its stake in China Mobile.

Woodrow commented: "We are conducting a review of our external advisers for our group and UK companies. We do not have a fixed number of firms in mind, but we wish to have fewer but deeper relationships with our firms."

The panel for Vodafone UK has not been reviewed since it was first put together in May 2005, with the company subsequently assessing individual law firm relationships rather than the panel as a whole.

The new review comes after Vodafone appointed former Reuters legal chief Rosemary Martin as its group general counsel and company secretary in April 2010.

Commenting on the process, a partner at one panel firm said: "Pressure on rates and being able to provide services such as outsourcing have become common form for panel reviews, as everyone looks to reduce their legal spend. Now that Vodafone is moving to cut down its number of legal advisers, the competition between firms will be fierce."

The review comes as Everything Everywhere, which was formed through the merger of Orange and T-Mobile, is still to confirm the outcome of its first combined panel review.