ACSeS to explore relationship between chief executives and chief legal officers

The Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors is to conduct research into the relationship between chief executives and chief legal officers (CLOs).

A survey of ACSeS members will look at the nature and quality of the relationship with reference to chief executive leadership style, the role expected of the chief legal officer, and key operational norms.

Key questions in the survey include whether the chief executive:

• Is more accepting of the CLO/monitoring officer’s contributions on professional matters as opposed to strategic and corporate matters
• Encourages the chief legal officer to play a wider role than that of the traditional chief legal officer or monitoring officer; and
• Places a greater emphasis on financial and resourcing outcomes than on CLO, monitoring officer and governance outcomes.

It also looks at whether the CLO and monitoring officer role is discouraged from straying into strategic and corporate issues, and whether the chief financial officer is considered by the organisation to be more important than the CLO/monitoring officer role.

ACSeS President Mirza Ahmad, Director of Corporate Governance at Birmingham City Council, said the results would add value to local governance.

He added: “Leadership excellence is essential if top managers in local government are to successfully deliver on the challenges facing the public sector in the current global recession. Continuously improving and re-designing services to deliver increased productivity from 30% - 40% less budgets is not an easy ask in any environment.

“As two of the top strategic and corporate governance champions, the strategic relationship between chief executive and chief legal officer is pivotal to ensuring success for local governance.”

The survey’s findings will be presented at ACSeS’ annual conference, which is being held at The Belfry from 16-18 November.