Barking and Dagenham Council is to radically restructure its legal team in a move that is likely to be watched closely by other local government legal heads, it revealed this week.


The council is to take the full range of its legal work in-house, setting up a 28-lawyer department closely modelled on private practice.



It will take on three 'senior partners' to head up three main divisions covering childcare and partnerships, procurement contracts, and corporate law and employment. Solicitors' salaries will be comparable to private practice and the council will keep track of billable hours. The overhaul follows a review by external consultants.



Divisional director of legal and democratic services, Nina Clark, said it was likely that the current team of ten qualified solicitors will find roles within the new structure under a role-matching exercise.



Rachel Rothwell