BT has finalised a review of its UK and Ireland legal advisers, with 37 firms appointed to the new line-up.

The review of what BT describes as its legal 'network' began last summer, after it was delayed due to the merger with EE in January 2016. The new line-up of firms is a significant increase on the previous 19-strong roster announced in 2013.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer was previously the only magic circle law firm on the roster, but Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and Linklaters have all now been added.

Other UK top 50 firms to have won places include Addleshaw Goddard, Eversheds Sutherland, Berwin Leighton Paisner, Bond Dickinson, Burges Salmon, DAC Beachcroft, DWF, Fieldfisher, Osborne Clarke, Simmons & Simmons and TLT.

The new appointments will run until April 2020.

BT will also continue to work with a network of alternative legal services providers including Axiom, Halebury, Obelisk, NewGalexy and Lawyers on Demand to meet resourcing, volume and project-based needs.

The process was overseen at first by BT's group director of ethics and compliance, Gareth Tipton, alongside central operations head of suppliers and systems Keith Thomson. Later on in the process, director of international governance Jon Furmston took over from Tipton.

Thomson said: "We realised that we needed to put more discipline into the panel, and although it was firmly managed before we wanted more rigour. The 37 firms are essentially what we want to use and everything we need to service all the parts of the business. We do not expect to use anyone else.

"A lot of the firms on the new panel are not all full service – some are very focused and will deal with very specific requirements. We have a large UK in-house legal team, which is handling more and more work, so many of the firms on the list are there for very specialised work."

Other notable new additions include EY, Baker McKenzie and US immigration specialist firm Fragomen. Reed Smith has been reappointed, while fellow US firm Proskauer Rose, which was also on the previous line-up, has missed out.

Irish firms include newcomer Mason Hayes & Curran and longstanding Irish advisers Matheson and Tughans.

Thomson said: "People in the business all wanted various services, and we had to boil that down into something meaningful. So it was a large tender document, and we looked at a number of factors including reputation, quality of work and we looked at the fees. We were not expecting the fees to have gone down, but we wanted to check that what we are getting is cost-effective.

"We had some advice from outside consultants for the price points for magic circle firms, the regional and the national firms, and that meant we could say 'we think you are a bit higher than what we would expect'. Then there was post-tender negotiations, which were successful off the back of that."

Recent work handled by BT's key advisers has included Freshfields' role on BT's £42m fine from telecoms regulator Ofcom for delays in installing high speed internet lines.

Ofcom's investigation into BT's network arm Openreach found that between January 2013 and December 2014, BT had cut compensation payments to telecoms providers for delays installing the high speed lines. The fine was the biggest ever handed down by the regulator.

Outside of the UK, BT has three distinct regions – the Americas, Europe, and Asia, Middle East and Africa, each of which has a separate legal network.

Full list of panel firms

Addleshaw Goddard Allen & Overy ASB Law Baker McKenzie Berwin Leighton Paisner Bird & Bird Bond Dickinson Burges Salmon Carter-Ruck Cleaver Fulton Rankin Clifford Chance DAC Beachcroft CMS Cameron McKenna DWF Ernst & Young Eversheds Sutherland Fieldfisher Fragomen Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Gateley Kemp Little Lewis Silkin Linklaters Mason Hayes & Curran Matheson MSI Global Alliance Napier & Sons Solicitors Onside Law Osborne Clarke Reed Smith Shepherd & Wedderburn Simmons & Simmons TLT Trowers & Hamlins Tughans Winckworth Sherwood Wright Hassall