Local Government Lawyer Insight July 2017 LocalGovernmentLawyer 14 In the face of relentless pressure on local authority budgets, heads of legal services are required to contribute savings to balance the budget, whilst at the same time being expected to provide advice on increasingly complex and often unfamiliar legal matters. As councils take on challenges such as commercialisation to increase income, heads of legal services will need to ensure that their authorities have access to first class legal advice, at an affordable cost. In most authorities, this will require using a mix of the in-house team, and external lawyers. Getting that mix right is the key to providing effective legal services. Unfortunately, there is no “silver bullet”, and no two authorities will find that the same mix works equally well for them. This means that every head of legal services will have to consider the issue for themselves, and make decisions that suit their authority, working within any constraints that might restrict that choice. Nonetheless, there are techniques that can be used, which make the exercise less daunting than it might otherwise be. The starting point should always be trying to understand what legal needs an authority has. This may seem obvious, but it must be remembered that “need” is very different from “nice to have”, and as budgets come under increasing pressure, any service that falls into the latter category needs to be uncovered. That is not to say that some services which are nice to have, rather than essential, could immediately stop, there may be all sorts of reasons why that is not possible, not least the political priorities of councilors. However, if anything is to be provided because it is “nice to have” rather than an absolute need, this should be a conscious decision, rather than a historical accident. Understanding the authority’s legal requirements Understanding the authority’s legal requirements requires the legal team to engage with its stakeholders to understand their requirements, preferences, and constraints, whether budgetary or otherwise. It is useful to carry out a survey of instructing departments to find out about their expected workload or projects for the following year, and in the medium term if possible, to understand the impact that At a time when local government legal departments are entering uncharted territory, Helen Edwards looks at how the expertise in private practice firms can be utilised without breaking the bank. Striking a balance