Linklaters and Norton Rose have won first-time appointments as UK insurer RSA expands its global legal panel from three firms to five.

The FTSE 100 company has selected the pair to sit alongside existing panel firms Allen & Overy, Slaughter and May and Ashurst, with all five firms appointed to advise on corporate and commercial matters for a three-year term.

The review, which finished at the end of May, marked the insurer's first panel revamp in three years, with RSA legal director Humphrey Tomlinson, who heads up the company's central legal team, leading the process. Only existing panel firms and a handful of frequent off-panel advisers were invited to pitch for the non-exclusive roster.

The panel review also marked the first for RSA since it hired former Benfield Group general counsel Derek Walsh as its new GC last year. Walsh previously held roles at firms including Norton Rose and legacy Pinsent Curtis.

He said Linklaters and Norton Rose were appointed on the basis of previous work provided since the last review. Walsh commented: "Linklaters has given us first-class advice off panel in the past. Norton Rose has a strong track record for insurance corporate work and made a strong presentation."

RSA also operates a separate UK corporate and commercial panel, which was last reviewed in 2010, when Pinsent Masons, Clyde & Co and Reynolds Porter Chamberlain were reappointed.

RSA, which was known as Royal & Sun Alliance until its 2008 rebranding, is the UK's largest commercial insurer and sixth-largest personal insurer.

In addition to panel firms, it has turned to Herbert Smith and US firms Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Morrison & Foerster.