Kent and Geldards net first client for Law:Public offering

Kent County Council and law firm Geldards have secured a first local authority client for their Law:Public service, after South Derbyshire District Council signed up for the scheme.

Law:Public was launched in February this year and is thought to be the first public-private venture of its kind. For services delivered through the scheme, the two organisations are aiming to charge a maximum hourly rate of £150, achieved through an average of Geldards’ and Kent's respective rates.

David Williams, chairman of Geldards, said eight other local authorities are currently considering whether to sign up to the service. South Derbyshire is an existing client of the firm.

Williams suggested that larger legal departments at the counties and the cities are weighing up their potential solutions, but that district and borough councils “are regarding things as more urgent and picking up on the solution we offer”.

He added: “There are more that are on the cusp of signing or considering very hard whether to sign. The pressure will be on all authorities to keep their legal teams small and those teams will have to resource the day-to-day activities of their authorities.

“But there will be projects outside the ability of teams to cope, projects that have a specific legal budget, or problems and crises that will come along but where you don’t want a legal team sitting and waiting for them to come along. That’s where Law:Public can help.”

Kent’s director of legal Geoff Wild said: “We have spoken to a lot of people who are extremely interested in simply finding a solution to the problems they have got at the moment in delivering public sector legal services at affordable prices, but maintaining the highest standards of quality. What we are doing seems to tick a lot of boxes for them.”

Wild added that the service was an offering for the public sector generally, not just for local government. He said: “We already offer our services to a large number of educational establishments, including further and higher education institutions. We will also be looking very strongly at the healthcare sector and even former utilities come into the frame as potential beneficiaries of what we are able to offer.”

Frank McArdle, chief executive of South Derbyshire, said: "The Law:Public model allows the council the facility of having legal advice available to it when it is needed, across every potential scenario we may face in the future, whilst saving the authority money. On this basis and after carrying out extensive cost analysis, the decision was not a difficult one."