Local authority legal departments run a tight ship but continue to prosper, argues Suzanne Bond


Rumours of our demise are greatly exaggerated. Having read the excellent piece on Birmingham City Council I was quite surprised to read the 'Trouble shooters' article [Gazette, 8 May 2008, 17], which seemed to give the impression local authority legal departments were withering on the vine waiting for the last person out to turn off the lights or - even worse - outsource all but the most simple work to private practice.



This is certainly not the world I do business in and many of my colleagues would also not recognise the picture painted.



There are more than 400 local authorities in England and Wales employing almost 4,000 solicitors and trainee solicitors. Some departments are as small as two or three solicitors, others may not be quite as big as Birmingham but certainly up there in terms of numbers. Many of those departments are involved in innovative and varied work serving the whole community. Only when a business case cannot be made to keep the work in-house will the legal department make a decision for the work to be outsourced.



Indeed, when new legislation comes through it is the in-house legal department that is the first port of call for the authority seeking advice on the legislative implications and help with the drafting of the council's ensuing policies and procedures.



In times when authorities are asked to do more for less, innovative methods of working come to the fore - such as the Suffolk model, whereby those authorities pool resources to enable the work to be kept in-house and to allow for career development throughout the county.



Others have built business models that allow other authorities to purchase services or to offer temporary contracts to deal with a project from start to finish rather than having to send work to private practice, which Stephen Cirrel quite rightly states can be a costly business. Some authorities have even set up departments, such as Kent County Council's procurement section, which can rival the services offered by private practice.



During the mid-1990s there was a move to outsource the legal work of local authorities within the competitive tendering regime, but ten years on authorities are realising this is not the way forward, and many legal departments are being restructured to bring that work back in. If you looked at awards relating to the nominees five years ago for in-house public sector work, you would have found them populated by private practice doing work for local authorities - now most nominees are local authority legal teams. Indeed, the winner of the Solicitors in Local Government (SLG) Young Solicitor of the Year award has been nominated for the assistant solicitor award for the outstanding contribution she has made.



As with any business - and local authority legal departments run a very tight ship - decisions are made on a daily basis concerning the nature of the work to be kept in-house and what will be outsourced to the private sector.



There will always be occasions where working in partnership with private practice will bring benefits to both parties, but decisions to do so will be based on a sound business case involving cost/benefit factors, not because an authority did not want to invest in its legal department.



The SLG represents those working within local government, with their training arm LGG providing high-quality courses to build expertise and help career development take place. Far from a lack of investment, the real benefits of having an in-house department are being recognised, and the solicitors and others who work within those departments are an asset to be valued.



Suzanne Bond is chairman of Solicitors in Local Government