Simmons & Simmons awarded £3m Bank of England legal contract
City law firm Simmons & Simmons was granted a contract worth up to £3m with the Bank of England.
The law firm won the BoE’s flexible legal resourcing contract late last month, with a value up to £3m running for two years until 19 December 2025.
The contract will see Simmons represent the bank in discussions with external bodies as well as providing the bank with legal advice. The firm will also provide mentoring and coaching to junior lawyers within the BoE legal department.
According to Financial News, the BoE has a long-term relationship with magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, as it has instructed the firm for the bulk of its legal advice for some 300 years.
Elsewhere, the BoE also awarded one of the big four firms EY with a skilled persons review contract. The contract award was also published last month and will see EY provide resources to the bank for a skilled persons review for a contract that totals in value to £1.7m.
This comes after EY has made several cuts to its legal services recently including shuttering its legal arm in Hong Kong this month. On 23 January, the Big Four firm will close its Hong Kong law member firm, LC Lawyers.
Last year, it was also reported that EY was in the process of shutting EY Riverview Law, the Manchester-based legal services business it acquired in 2018.