Corrs Chambers Westgarth has the highest number of appointees to the Federal Government's Takeover Panel.

The firm currently has four members on the panel - Teresa Handicott, Braddon Jolley, Byron Koster and Andrew Lumsden. Allan Bulman, director of the Takeover Panel, said this was because Jolley and Koster had moved from Freehills and Blake Dawson last year respectively.

Bulman was unable to comment on whether Corrs' heavy presence on the panel would be up for review following its lateral hires, but anonymous sources have told ALB that there should be a better balance of firms on the panel. "There are a bit too many panel members from Corrs...if there is a conflict of interest with Corrs, then it could cause problems," said one source.

To this end, the Federal Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law, Nick Sherry, recently announced the reappointment of nine members to the panel, among them are Johnson Winter & Slattery partner John Keeves, Clayton Utz partner Mark Paganin, former BHP company secretary Karen Wood and former solicitor-general David Bennett.

McCullough Robertson chairman of partners Brett Heading was the only lawyer to leave the panel, but showed no dismay: "I have been on the panel since 1997 as one of the longest serving members. It's refreshing that the panel has a policy of not allowing members to stay on for too long."

Judges will also no longer be on the panel. "There were difficulties in having judges on the panels. If you had a state judge on a federal tribunal, then it would be asking for a bit of trouble," Bulman said.

The panel consists of 53 part-time members (up one from last year) of whom 24 are practising lawyers, according to Bulman.