Rupert Murdoch

Clifford Chance (CC) has replaced Linklaters as legal adviser to News Group Newspapers on litigation relating to phone-hacking at the News of the World (NoW).

The move marks the fourth time Rupert Murdoch's media company has switched its lawyers on the case. The company initially instructed Farrer & Co after the hacking scandal broke, before moving the work to Olswang in October 2011, and then onto Linklaters the next year.

CC was appointed on Friday (23 September), when all claimants received notice of the change.

Linklaters took over from Olswang in 2012 after a number of civil cases were settled in January that year, leading to a drop in advisory work. The magic circle firm was appointed to handle any outstanding litigation against the company on top of its existing role advising parent company News Corporation's management and standards committee.

Olswang was first instructed by News International in July 201,1 to draw up a new code of practice for the company when the NoW scandal broke.

The firm also took the lead for News International and subsidiary News Group Newspapers on civil litigation claims, with around 20 cases settling in January, including those of Jude Law, who was handed £130,000.

Around 11 law firms won roles on the proceedings, including Collyer Bristow, Mishcon de Reya, Bindmans and Atkins Thomson.