These two law departments, both UK based and re-constituting their panels, chose an entirely new set of external counsel. That wholesale swap out puts the lie to contentions that incumbent firms, who presumably know the client, have the high upper hand. To the contrary, the in-place firms might have gotten the back of the hand because of complacency.
Many law firms, competing for work from a company that is not a client, fret that the incumbent firms are “wired.” In these two situations, at least, that suspicion was scotched.