Five US firms have secured places on education group Pearson's first US M&A panel.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Dorsey & Whitney, Goodwin Procter, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, and Sullivan & Cromwell have all won places on the roster.

The formation of the US corporate panel comes after the company recently set up a separate US panel to deal with litigation, compliance and government investigations.

The education company, which last year sold the FT Group to Nikkei, previously launched three UK panels recently: one for M&A, one for commercial and technology work, and another for labour and employment.

The formation of all of the new panels has been overseen by group general counsel (GC) Bjarne Tellmann and his deputy GCs.

Tellmann said the panel appointment process was part of a wider effort to make the business "leaner, more agile and focused on the big opportunities in education".

He added: "As part of this, we are building out our legal capabilities – both in-house and with the support of external partners."

The review process took into account each firm's experience and expertise in M&A, particularly within education. Tellmann also chose the firms on value, flexibility in billing, and alternate fees.

Pearson's current UK panels was appointed in November 2015. Magic circle firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Herbert Smith Freehills won lead roles as "partner firms".

Pinsent Masons and DLA Piper also won roles advising on corporate matters, while Fieldfisher and Kemp Little won spots on a separate IT and commercial panel.

Tellmann has been senior vice-president and GC for two years. Prior to taking up the role, he was associate general counsel at Coca-Cola.