b'Local Government Lawyer 3Contentsp4, The productivity puzzleDerek Bedlow looks at what the results of the Legal Department of the Future survey suggest for the fate of council legal teams.p12, The race for talentThe recruitment market for qualified local government lawyers is the tightest that it has been for years. At a time when council legal teams are busier than ever it is putting a severe strain on legal department management.p18, Reasons to be cheerfulLawyers in local government are happier than most other professionals, according to this years survey. Derek Bedlow looks into why they are reporting record levels of satisfaction with their work and outlines areas where working conditions can still be improved.The productivity puzzle, p4 p24, The best of times, the worst of timesLocal government lawyers are in demand like never before, but this creates many additional pressures on legal teams. To try to find some solutions to the issues identified by the survey, Local Government Lawyer convened some of the countrys most experienced local government lawyers to a roundtable session, held at the Charles Dickens Museum in London. Derek Bedlow reports.p30, Improving internal efficiency simplifiedThe LexisPSL Public Sector team provides five steps to improving efficiency in your legal department.The race for talent, p12 p34, Building the case for legal evidence management in local governmentAndrea Kilby, Director of UK Business Development at CaseLines, highlights how technology has the power to change the face of legal work in local government.p36, Changing priorities, new challenges?Delving into this years survey results, Tim Morel of Kennedy Cater, identifies where inefficiencies lie in local government legal departments and suggests how legal frameworks might help.p40, Co-sourcing: a new era of flexible resourcingBill Hull, partner and joint Head of Public Sector at TLT, examines the opportunities for hard-pressed local Reasons to be cheerful, p18 government legal teams offered by co-sourcing with private practice firms.p42, AI: Hope or hype? AI is predicted to bring a paradigm shift to the legal sector but what are the practical implications in the immediate future? Adam Carey looks at what legal technology canand cant doin the foreseeable future.p44, The Golden TriangleThe removal of Monitoring Officers and heads of legal from the upper echelons of local government presents a serious problem for the future of legal departments and weakens organisational governance as a whole, argues Phillip Horsfield of Lawyers in Local Government.The best of times, the worst of times, p24 p46, Technology, the new recruitHow might social media and big data management help solve the recruitment crisis?Local Government LawyerLocalgovernmentlawyer.co.ukEditor Publisher AdvertisingPhilip Hoult Derek Bedlow Kate Coynephilip.hoult@localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk derek.bedlow@localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk kate@localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk'