Anup Kollanethu

EY's global legal arm has ramped up its offering in the U.K. with two senior hires.

The former boss of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's and DWF's legal services offerings has taken up a new role at the Big Four giant while a DLA Piper partner of 15 years has joined the company's U.K. legal arm, the company confirmed.

Anup Kollanethu, who moved from Freshfields to DWF in 2018, has joined the accounting firm as a strategic adviser to the company's global law leadership, people at the firm said. He had been on an extended term of gardening leave from DWF, a person with knowledge of the hire said.

As a strategic adviser at EY, Kollanethu will counsel the company's global legal leadership, which according to the firm's website leads more than 2,100 lawyers in over 80 jurisdictions across EY globally.

A former adviser at insurance giant Aviva, Kollanethu made his name in the legal world at Freshfields, where he helped helped launch and lead the Magic Circle firm's Manchester legal services centre during his three year tenure.

Under his leadership, the firm's Manchester centre grew into a 700-strong operation, managing much of the firm's process-led tasks, including document reviews, due diligence and verification work. He moved across to DWF in 2018, becoming its CEO of managed services. However, at the time citing his desire for "a new challenge", he spent less than a year at DWF.

Meanwhile, Charles Morrison will lead a new energy sector team within EY's U.K. law practice, adding to existing sector specialisms in financial services and technology. For five of his 15 years at DLA, he was the international group head of the firm's finance and projects practice.

Of Morrison's hire, EY's U.K. head of law, Philip Goodstone, said in a statement that Morrison's "depth and breadth of experience will be a real asset to our team and clients, particularly at a time when many businesses are grappling the challenges faced by the economic and practical implications of COVID-19″.

Kollanethu's and Morrison's hires come as EY legal underscores its global strategy, which aims to blend tech, law and consulting with a view to becoming an enterprise legal service provider.