Veolia has reviewed its UK panel arrangements, with Herbert Smith and McGrigors winning first-time appointments.

In an unusual move, the French utility giant has also added a barristers' chambers to its external legal line-up for the first time, with Hardwicke Chambers winning the appointment.

Meanwhile, law firms Hogan Lovells, Simmons & Simmons, Pinsent Masons, Reynolds Porter Chamerlain and Brodies have all been reappointed to the main UK panel. Veolia has also renewed its regional panel which comprises Bevan Brittan, Bond Pearce, Cobbetts, Douglas-Jones Mercer and Stevens & Bolton.

The review was led by Veolia general counsel Michael Butcher, who said the choice to add a chambers to the roster for the first time was a result of the company increasing the size of its in-house legal team. He said the company now employs several solicitors with City experience and, as such, can instruct barristers in the same manner as law firms.

He said: "We have doubled our business over the past couple of years and our internal capabilities and external needs have changed. The appointment of chambers is innovative and innovation is one of the core values of our wider business. This is the legal department's way of contributing to that."

Butcher declined to comment on the size of the legal team or by how much it has grown in the UK recently, but said that M&A is one of the areas in which it now has a stronger in-house capacity.

Veolia's UK business covers energy, environmental services, transport and water, with the panels covering all branches of the company's UK operations.

The firms are not appointed for a set term. Veolia said that it will update the panel on an ongoing basis based on its service requirements.