SLG chief fires warning over shared legal services

The chair of Solicitors in Local Government has warned that shared legal services could be a retrograde step for local authority lawyers “if it means that people begin to see the cost of everything and the value of nothing”.

A survey of heads of legal conducted by Local Government Lawyer found that 78% identified shared legal services as one of their three main ways of delivering cost savings. Almost half (45%) said it was their number one option.

But speaking to Local Government Lawyer ahead of the Weekend School in York next week, Guy Goodman said: “The legal department’s role is about being proactive and being involved in strategic matters at an early stage. That is the difficulty with shared services – the further you remove legal services from the corporate centre and the more you regard it as simply being transactional, the later you bring the lawyers into the process.

“The real value of the local government lawyer is in helping to ensure that you fix the parameters of what you can do and that you help to plot the journey that your corporate client wants to make.”

Goodman said some authorities may bring in shared legal services deliberately where the lawyer is seen as being obstructive or difficult.

Calling on lawyers to help themselves, the SLG chair said: “They have to have the right mindset and to move away from being seen as being difficult or awkward. We can’t just be the people who are seen to say ‘no’ all the time; we have to be the people who say ‘yes’ and find solutions to problems.”

He also warned of the danger of over-specialisation. However, the SLG chair added local government lawyers have proved “remarkably adaptable” over recent years.

In the interview, which can be read here, Goodman outlined how the SLG can help its members, explained why he has made pro bono a key theme of his chairmanship and stressed the importance of all local government solicitors having a practising certificate.

The results of the LGL/Gazette survey will be published next week.