Three ‘super panels’ of law firms and barristers’ chambers are being formed to service about 30 local authorities across England, the Gazette can reveal.

Birmingham City Council, the largest local authority in Europe, is tendering for a panel of around 25 firms on behalf of 17 authorities in the West Midlands. The London Borough of Bromley is evaluating applications from 80 firms for a panel to service eight London boroughs.

The London Borough of Croydon has formed a panel of 33 chambers, to service 10 London boroughs.

While the main aim of member authorities is to cut spending on external legal advisers, a place on one of the three panels could prove lucrative. Birmingham alone expects to spend around £5m yearly through the West Midlands panel.

The development means that, when the West Midlands and London solicitor-panels begin operating, 67 of England’s 388 local authorities will be tied to three panels. Two years ago, EM LawShare was set up to service 13 local authorities in the East Midlands. It now manages a panel of four law firms on behalf of 42 authorities.

If all local authorities spend the same proportion of their income as Birmingham on external legal services, the total market in England would be worth £175m a year.

EM LawShare set out to make £5.5m in efficiency savings and bring hourly rates down from around £270 an hour to £130 an hour within four years.

Jayne Francis, law and democracy service director at Nottinghamshire County Council, who led the EM LawShare consortium arrangements, said member authorities had so far saved ‘well in excess’ of £600,000 ‘purely on savings made by utilising the reduced hourly rate.’ The figure does not include savings linked to advice sharing or training.

‘This is not just about saving local authority legal costs,’ said Mirza Ahmad, acting corporate director of governance at Birmingham and head of its 320-strong legal team. ‘It is also about making sure a framework arrangement exists for local authorities that wish to obtain the best private sector law rates within the shortest possible time. By putting these arrangements in place, we cut out a lot of inefficiency.’