Walker Morris wins appointment on Lucozade Ribena Suntory’s first legal panel

4th October 2018

Food & Drink Team reinforce national reputation with latest appointment

Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRS) has appointed Walker Morris to its first formal legal panel to provide legal advice and support in the UK.

Walker Morris was selected from a shortlist of 23 firms, not only for its strong capabilities and experience, but also for the firm’s strategic alignment to LRS’s vision and principles.

The shortlisted firms were invited to tender for a chance to be on the panel. With cultural fit of paramount importance to LRS, the selected law firms were asked to not only highlight their sector experience and expertise, but to also demonstrate their company culture, innovative capabilities and pro bono work. The appointment is effective from 1 September 2018.

Speaking about the tender process, Mary Guest, LRS’s General Counsel, said:

“We wanted to run the panel selection a little differently to a traditional pitch. Whilst we of course wanted to appoint the firms with the best capabilities, we also wanted to ensure the firms selected would deliver innovative solutions, working collaboratively with the in-house team, to enable LRS to achieve its vision from the perspective of not only the legal team but also the wider business.”

James Crayton, Head of Commercial and the LRS Client Relationship Partner at Walker Morris added:

“LRS is an innovative, creative and trusted brand operating in a fast-paced and dynamic market. We recognise that LRS need legal providers who can operate as an extension of their own in-house team. From previously working with LRS we were able to tailor our approach and advice to fit with the culture and ethos of LRS.  In addition, our firm’s strategy of focussing on a single centre of excellence engenders a team-working culture, enabling us to pull together multi-disciplinary teams seamlessly and helping us to adapt and respond quickly to the changing soft drinks market.

“We’re delighted to have the opportunity to develop our relationship with LRS and are looking forward to working with their in-house team to continually look at new ways of delivering value to the LRS business.”

This appointment reinforces Walker Morris’ national reputation in the soft drinks market. Its dedicated Food & Drink team has recently advised on a number of successful transactions in the sector including advising Karro Food Group on its acquisition of TS Bloor & Sons; advising Real Good Food on the sale of Haydens Bakery to Bakkavor; and advising the shareholders of 3V Group on the sale of a majority shareholding to SHS Group.

The firms appointed to the LRS panel are:

• Eversheds Sutherland, as primary provider across the UK and Ireland;
• Addleshaw Goddard, Clifford Chance, DWF, Norton Rose Fulbright, Stephenson Harwood, TLT LLP and Walker Morris as specialist providers in the UK; and
• McCann Fitzgerald and Philip Lee as specialist providers in Ireland.