Local government has become a business, just like any other.

The advent of best value has meant local government legal departments are under increasing pressure to ensure they provide high-quality services at cost-effective prices.This has forced legal services departments to review their practice management systems in order to improve client care, minimise mistakes, reduce costs and, they hope, get one over on competitors.There are a number of quality standards available to both the public and private sectors, such as Investors in People (IIP), ISO 9001 and, more recently, the Law Society's Lexcel.

But, despite increasing commercial pressures on both sectors, there are still fewer than 200 legal organisations in England and Wales with IIP or ISO 9001.

And, according to Lexcel manager Tracey Croft, only about 77 legal organisations have obtained the Lexcel standard -- although about 20 others are currently being assessed.

About one third of those awarded Lexcel have been local government departments.Ms Croft says Lexcel has the advantage of being written by lawyers for lawyers.

'Lexcel can combine the best of both IIP -- with its emphasis on managing people -- and ISO 9001, which concentrates on process elements such as case management.' She says that it is just as applicable to a legal department in the public sector as it is to private practice, and both are assessed in much the same way.Philip Wilson-Sharp, head of central services at Canterbury City Council, which is currently working towards Lexcel, has certainly been convinced.

He says Lexcel is the most appropriate certification scheme for his council's in-house legal department: 'It is about quality of standards rather than pr ocedures.

It also encourages more discipline with the management of files, which makes it easier for someone else to pick up if the fee-earner is off sick, or if someone wants to come in and inspect them.'It seems that more councils are pursuing quality standards, not least because of increasing commercial pressures similar to those in the private sector.

Liz Woodley, senior lawyer at Brighton and Hove Council, says: 'Local government is becoming more like private practice.

There is a general recognition in local government that it really is a business and that we should be looking for internationally recognised standards.

We went for ISO 9001 in December 1997 because we wanted a common system of working after a reorganisation earlier in the year.

It was not much of a change to move from that to Lexcel, which we were awarded in July 1998 -- the first legal team to get it.'Bob Rayner, legal services manager at Sunderland City Council, agrees.

'Under CCT [compulsory competitive tendering] and now best value the world of local government has changed.

It has now got to be much more forward looking.'It was as a result of CCT that quality standards were introduced at his council.

The department was awarded ISO 9001 in September 1995, followed by IIP in June 1996 and Lexcel in August 1998.

Mr Rayner says standards of working have improved since the standards were introduced.Other councils report a similar experience.

Jane Pollard, assistant county solicitor for Warwickshire County Council, says her department has had to learn to compete with the private sector.'The way we operate is much closer to private practice these days than it was ten years ago.

For instance, all our clients, both internal and external, are free to turn to the private sector if they are unhappy with our services.'Warwickshire avoided the CCT process because it became a best value pilot.

'Nevertheless, we started to write specifications as a way of sharing information as part of our preparation for that,' explains Ms Pollard.

The department achieved IIP in 1998 and Lexcel in May 1999.She reports an improvement in the way staff work as a result of the introduction of formal quality standards.'Lexcel built on IIP, particularly in the areas of case and file management, and communication with clients.

We also keep files in a more orderly manner now, which makes them understandable not just to the individual fee-earner but to other colleagues as well.'IIP, on the other hand, ensures that people are competent and appropriately trained to function in line with our business objectives,' she says.The advent of best value has had a major impact on local government legal departments and the requirement to ensure that the public are receiving high-quality services.Keith Goodwin, legal services business manager at Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council, agrees that 'best value touches everything a council does'.

His department is currently working towards Lexcel (the council already has IIP) which, he says, has proved very beneficial.

'In the long term it will help us with regard to having quality standards for best value,' he says.Rod Ainsworth, solicitor to the Audit Commission, explains that by 31 March every council must publish an annual best value plan, which will then be audited by the commission.

The councils also have to carry out a rolling five-year review to look at each service they provide, including legal services, and assess whether it could be provided differently or more cheaply.Mr Goodwin says best value represents a shift in culture for the public sector.

'It is about challenging what you do, comparing what you do with similar practices in either the public or private sectors, consulting about what you do and opening yourself up to competition.'The private sector is a cut-throat market and they have to do what they can to ensure their future.

That is the sort of attitude that the government is now attempting to bring into local government with best value.'CASE STUDY -- LAMBETH COUNCILFive years ago, Lambeth Council in London was in chaos.

The legal services department -- like many of the other directorates -- was in a mess.

Ged Curran, the current borough solicitor explains: 'When I took over in May 1996, the department had hit rock bottom.

It had two wasted costs orders against it, there was no filing system and record-keeping was grossly inadequate.

My predecessor had been suspended and, not surprisingly, morale was low and it was difficult to recruit and retain staff.'But three and a half years later the department has been transformed.

In November 1999 it received two quality standard awards for its practice management -- Lexcel and ISO 9001.

Mr Curran says: 'I used to be very cynical about quality standards but now I can see the positive effect they have on staff morale.

They encourage people to maintain good standards and are very important in areas where people have felt undervalued.

That an external body has said we are providing a good service is an amazing fillip to morale.'Mr Curran says the key to putting things right lay in adopting what was essentially a best value approach.

The service had to survive but it could not compete when it compared itself with others in the public sector.

He explains: 'My decision was that the whole culture needed to change and the only way to make radical, effective changes was to externalise as many of our services as we could.'In-house staff were not allowed to tender for the five specific contracts that were let -- social services, civil litigation and conveyancing, planning, debt recovery and education.

The council did not require the successful firms to have formal quality standards but most had in fact been awarded either ISO 9001 or IIP.One such firm was Steele & Co (ISO 9001 and IIP), which is based in Norwich but also has a south London office.

It won the contract for civil litigation and conveyancing but Philip Hyde, the managing partner, explains that Lambeth still requires the firm to demonstrate appropriate quality services.'We have quarterly meetings with the council.

They have access to audit files and they can track transactions and matters on the database to ensure things are being done in a timely way.'Mr Curran estimates that during the first two years of the contract, which took effect in 1996, costs rose by about 5% against a projected figure of 30%.

The department now employs 36 staff instead of the 70-plus inherited by Mr Curran.He says that on a basic level the introduction of quality standards has resulted in a codification of all the department's practices.'But there is also the human level -- getting the awards means that we are inculcating a culture where people carry out good practice as a normal course of events -- not just occasionally.'Four years ago we couldn't even guarantee the work would be done.

Now our clients know they can expect consistently high standards.'