Allen & Overy and Slaughter and May have landed roles advising the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Direct Line Group on Direct Line's London listing, which is set to value the insurance company at around £3bn.

A&O is advising both Direct Line and its parent RBS, with a team led by London corporate partner David Broadley, alongside insurance partner Philip Jarvis and incentives partner Sylvie Watts.

Slaughters is working alongside A&O to advise Direct Line on its flotation and separation from RBS, with corporate partner Jeff Twentyman heading up the firm's team alongside fellow corporate partners Andy Ryde and Robert Chaplin, supported by IT partner David Ives and tax partner Mike Lane.

Linklaters partners Dan Schuster-Woldan, John Lane and Tom O'Neill are advising Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as the joint global co-ordinators, sponsors and bookrunners, with UBS also appointed as a joint bookrunner.

RBS, which is majority owned by the UK Government after its 2008 bailout, is committed to a series of measures imposed by the European Commission as a condition of receiving state aid. These include disposal of its interest in Direct Line by the end of 2014, with a requirement that more than 50% of its shares are sold by the end of 2013.

Direct Line is a market leader in the motor, home, rescue and personal commercial and international insurance sectors.

RBS was also advised by an in-house team led by general counsel Rushad Abadan and legal counsel Scott Gibson, while Direct Line received advice from an in-house team led by general counsel Humphrey Tomlinson.

The roles will be seen as a coup for A&O and Slaughters, with magic circle rival Linklaters traditionally providing RBS with the bulk of its corporate advice.