Law Firm lands pounds 10m Standard.

Agencies snubbed as Associated Newspapers awards The Law Firm its Evening Standard ad account.

Associated Newspapers has handed the Evening Standard's advertising account to The Law Firm, along with a proposed ad budget of up to pounds 10 million, as it fights to reverse the London title's declining circulation.

The appointment follows a series of benign talks with a range of advertising agencies. It is understood Veronica Wadley, the editor of the Evening Standard, first invited Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi and TBWA\London to pitch for the account. Following presentations, Wadley reduced the list to Leo Burnett and TBWA\London.

However, the agencies discovered last week that their efforts had all been in vain when Paul Dacre, the editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers, overruled Wadley, saying the paid-for tabloid should join its sister paper, the Daily Mail, at The Law Firm.

The incumbent on the Evening Standard account is Farm Communications. The agency was not invited to re-pitch for the account.

A spokeswoman for the Evening Standard said: 'After asking a number of agencies to pitch, it was felt that none of the suggested presentations quite hit the spot. The Law Firm was asked for its ideas and we felt they were better. It is as simple as that. There is no question of anyone overruling anybody.'

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