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The Legal Department of the Future February 2016 LocalGovernmentLawyer14 District Council in Essex on section 106 agreements seeing off 18 rival bidders in the process. Staffordshire County Council and Conwy County Borough Council also secured positions on various lots on panels set up by the National Procurement Service for Wales. And in December 2015 three legal teams Kent Legal Services Staffordshire and nplaw won places on the revised 30-90m legal services panels set up by HealthTrust Europe a purchasing body for the health sector that provides support to more than 400 public and private sector organisations. Of course these successes come with the proviso that as any private sector firm will tell you being appointed to a panel is no guarantee of a steady flow of work. But they are at the very least a start. Private sector partners The final strategic option for legal departments that respondents were asked about was entry into a partnership or joint venture with a private sector provider. Just 11 say they are considering such an arrangement the same percentage as in the 2013 survey. So far there have only been a handful of such deals. The tie-up between Bevan Brittan and HB Public Law is a high-profile example but elsewhere developments appear to have stalled. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council appointed Ashfords as its sole legal provider on a three-year deal in October 2012 but this arrangement was not renewed when the term came to an end last autumn despite internal council papers suggesting it had been a success. Kent County Council had meanwhile hoped to have a partner in place for a ten- year 100m joint venture with Kent Legal Services for a contract start date of 1 April last year. The procurement exercise was hit by delays with a decision on the single remaining bidders proposal subsequently scheduled for September 2015. However this decision was not taken. A spokesperson for the county council suggested that a Cabinet decision on the procurement would be taken later in the autumn of 2015 but this timeframe again passed without any further developments at least publicly. Interestingly the option of a direct partnership with a private sector firm was considered by Central Bedfordshire and discussions were held with three leading practices but this approach was rejected on the basis that it is highly unlikely to make any savings and in all probability would prove more expensive. Seizing the day Taking the results of the Legal Department of the Future survey as a whole it would seem that there is no consensus yet on how local authority legal departments should respond to the financial pressures they are under. The survey reveals there is still a wide range of often strongly-held opinions on the merits of strategies such as shared services alternative business structures trading and framework agreements. However it does appear that some departments have significantly more control over their destiny than others. Which side is your team on Philip Hoult is Editor of Local Government Lawyer and Public Law Today. About the surveys Two surveys were conducted between July and November 2015. The first surveyed heads of legal at local authorities in England and Wales on the management issues they face and their plans for the future. 100 heads of legal took part. The average department size was 26 and the breakdown by type of authority is as follows First tier authority 17 Second tier authority 34 Unitary authority 26 London borough 14 Metropolitan authority 9 The second survey on careers and job satisfaction issues was conducted amongst the local authority lawyers that subscribe to the Local Government Lawyer newsletter. 312 lawyers took part in the survey. The results of both were compared with previous management and careers surveys conducted in 2012 and 2013 respectively.