The UK’s Department for International Trade has awarded a contract to UK law firm TLT (in consortium with US firm McDermott Will & Emery and Canada’s Borden Ladner Gervais) to advise on three critical trade negotiations as it seeks to shape the country’s post-Brexit trading landscape.

The contract, worth up to £7m over its lifetime, follows the consortium’s appointment to the UK government’s trade law panel in February 2021, and includes legal advice and support to negotiate the UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (the CPTPP) and two bilateral free trade agreements with Canada and Mexico.

The consortium will lead a carefully-curated network of subcontractor law firms across eleven different jurisdictions, including:

• Minter Ellison – Australia
• Abrahams, Davidson & Co – Brunei Darussalam
• Carey Abogados – Chile
• Mori Hamada & Matsumoto – Japan
• Allen Gledhill – Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam
• SAI Law & Economics – Mexico
• Minter Ellison Rudd Watts – New Zealand
• Rebza, Alcazar & De Las Casas – Peru

The consortium and its subcontractors will operate seamlessly using TLT’s FutureLaw solutions, including legal project management and a cutting-edge shared IT platform.

TLT was selected following a competitive panel-wide tender process, based on the strength of its consortium’s expertise in international trade negotiations, international jurisdictions and government advisory work. TLT also demonstrated its ability to deliver a seamless ‘one firm’ service across the consortium and wider international subcontractor network to provide best value for money, and to promote gender equality across the contract workforce.

Caroline Ramsay, partner at TLT and chair of the firm’s international trade group, says: “It is an absolute honour to have been selected to deliver this significant and complex project for the Department for International Trade. We have a proven track record of curating specialist consortia of “best in class” law firms and lawyers to support the government, and our consortium’s collective expertise, combined with TLT’s FutureLaw solutions, means we are able to provide a ‘global-boutique’ trade law service to meet the Department’s needs.

“The dedication and commitment of the bid team to win such an illustrious instruction was entirely true to TLT’s values, and we are looking forward to working with our network of international partners to leverage our individual national excellence and collective international reach.”