DLA Piper and Hogan Lovells are the only two law firms to have so far won work after being appointed to the 'Skilled Person' panel set up by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last April.

The FCA can commission reports from designated 'skilled persons'. including law firms, when the regulator has concerns about a financial firm's activities or wants further analysis. But of the 77 reports commissioned between April last year and September 2014, only four were put together by law firms.

DLA acted on two in the second quarter of the 2013-14 financial year – one involving client assets concerns and one relating to a conduct of business inquiry – while Hogan Lovells picked up one commission in the second quarter of 2014-15 for a report into conduct of business issues.

In the first quarter of the 2013-14 financial year, Macfarlanes also completed a report into conduct of business concerns, but it is understood that the instruction predates the firm winning a spot on the panel.

The investigations can be conducted into a variety of financial institutions, for example insurance companies, credit unions and personal investment businesses, but the most common type of firm to be put under review was banks, who saw 26 skilled person investigations levied at them over the period by the regulator.

The skilled person reviews can look at, among other things, governance, controls and risk management frameworks, conduct of business and financial crime.

Seven law firms were originally appointed to the panel, which will extends to March 2017: Ashurst, Clifford Chance (CC), DLA Piper, Eversheds, Hogan Lovells, Macfarlanes and Pannone.

However, a number of accountancy, risk management and consultancy firms also won spots and have since dominated the market. Deloitte took the most mandates with 11 in the first 18 months of the panel, followed by Grant Thornton with 9 and KPMG with 8.

"It's obviously great to be on the panel, but because of the tendering process you can lose out to the accountants because they can undercut the law firms" said a partner at one of the firms on the panel. "I'm a bit sceptical about how many firms are going for the work now."

The FCA did go off panel once over the period, approving Welsh accountants Broomfield & Alexander Advisors to conduct a review "due to exceptional circumstances in a regulated firm."