Insurance juggernaut Aviva has renewed its Group and Investor legal panels, handing places to 10 firms including Allen & Overy and Slaughter and May.

The Magic Circle duo have been appointed to the FTSE 100 insurer's Group panel, alongside Eversheds Sutherland, DLA Piper, Pinsent Masons, CMS and RPC.

On the Investors panel, DLA and Eversheds have also been added, alongside Ashurst, Addleshaw Goddard, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner and CMS.

The review was run by Aviva head of legal operations Caroline Brown, assisted by law firm governance officer Carmen Safavi and senior category manager Helen Foy, and signed off by group general counsel Kirsty Cooper.

Brown told Legal Week that the review had focused on diversity, inclusion and innovation, as well as legal expertise. The insurance giant last held a full panel review in 2013, when Slaughters, A&O, Latham & Watkins, Ashurst, DLA Piper, Linklaters, Pinsent Masons and Addleshaw Goddard won spots on the new line-up.

Clifford Chance failed to win a place on that panel, despite previously taking lead roles for Aviva on a number of mandates.

A&O advised Aviva in 2015 on its £5.6bn merger with insurance rival Friends Life, with Aviva spending a total of £4.4m on legal costs.

In 2017, RPC secured a High Court victory for Aviva and real estate developer Hammerson, which saw the companies awarded £14.7m in damages following an eight-year dispute related to the former London Stock Exchange building.

That year, RPC also won a spot on U.S. insurance giant AIG's U.K. legal panel, which also handed spots to Eversheds, Dentons and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.