The Liverpool office of DLA Piper has continued to expand its local authority client base after winning places on three legal advice panels for Chester City Council.
The wins mean the Liverpool team will now act on the council’s newly formed litigation panel as well as being re-appointed to its existing Property and Planning panels.
The appointments follow three years of successful work with Chester City Council, which included acting on the sale of Chester City Transport to Britain’s largest bus operator, First Group Plc, last month.
The DLA Piper team is led by Mary O’Hanlon, a specialist in local authority and regeneration work who began her career with Liverpool City Council’s in-house legal team.
Mary said: “We consider ourselves to be the number one team in Liverpool with the best experience of public sector and regeneration work and are continuing to develop as the legal partner of choice for local authorities in the region.�
The latest success follows DLA Piper’s appointment to one of the first consortiums of local authorities jointly buying legal services in country. In December 2006 DLA Piper signed a contract with two other firms to provide full legal support for the group which is made up of Halton Borough Council, Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council, Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council and West Lancashire District Council.
The Liverpool office has also recently been appointed to advise Warrington Borough Council on a redevelopment scheme and continues to act on major regeneration schemes in Liverpool, including Kings Waterfont for English Partnerships and the New Anfield development for Liverpool Football Club