Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
Page 29
Page 30
Page 31
Page 32
Page 33
Page 34
Page 35
Page 36
Page 37
Page 38
Page 39
Page 40
Page 41
Page 42
Page 43
Page 44
Page 45
The Legal Department of the Future February 2016 LocalGovernmentLawyer38 authorities is similarly a source of some concern for many local government lawyers. There is an increasing lack of respect for the worth and value of legal within the authority says one respondent. In our authority legal are not even part of the executive management team and local government employment structures do not recognise professional experience in their pay and grading. The survey also asked respondents how they thought that their departments are perceived by clients. This found a clear majority 68 who still feel that their departments are seen as trusted advisers by their authorities compared with 18 who think they are regarded as a roadblock and 14 who felt they are regarded as being a remote service department. The open-ended comments on this question are more nuanced with the answer in some cases depending on which client department and which lawyer is being considered as a number of respondents point out. Certain departments see us as trusted adviser others see us as a barrier. Certain clients do not understand that bringing in legal services early is likely to be helpful and cost effective and more likely to lead to problems being detected when it is difficult to address them properly without causing additional cost or delay says one. Some departments seek guidance and assistance all the time others keep us in dark until the last possible moment which goes some way to fulfilling their assumption that we are obstructive says another. As well as creating more work for in- house lawyers the hollowing out of many client departments is also affecting the relationship between lawyer and client in many cases with the latter often described as failing to appreciate the nature and boundaries of the lawyerclient relationship. Coping with the loss of experience in instructing parts of the council is identified as a key challenge by heads of legal in the management survey and it is an issue that that causes concern at the coalface as well. Clients are becoming increasingly passive aggressive if they do not receive the advice they want and generally the decline in quality of instructions and personnel left within the organisation is a real problem says one respondent. Clients need to appreciate a professional service is being provided and that lawyers have codes of conduct to comply with and regulatory pressures says another. Outsourcing is a much more expensive option than an efficient and professional in-house service. Client departments must be made to understand they have to do the admin and non-legal work to allow the lawyers to do the legal work. and the ugly a career cul-de-sac By some distance the lowest satisfaction ratings were recorded in respect of career prospects which scored just 4.3 out of 10. Respondents were also asked what their career aims were see fig 2 and this question recorded a sharp drop since 2013 in the proportion of lawyers looking to move up into management from 44 to 36 and a concomitant rise in the number of local government lawyers happy to stay at their present levels which rose from 28 when this survey was first taken in 2013 to 32. It is OK to work in local government if you just want a job but not if you would like a career There appears to be a vicious circle of higher value work being sent out for lack of internal capability thereby denying the opportunity for in-house staff to develop the appropriate skills and experience. Fig 2