Legal Services Lincolnshire nets innovation award
Legal Services Lincolnshire fought off competition from major corporates such as Barclays Bank, BAE Systems and Associated British Foods to win the In-house Award for Innovation at the British Legal Awards earlier this month.
The partnership between six councils was praised in the citation for its creation and:
- Reducing its external legal spending from £1.2m to £350,000
- Undertaking 100% of its property and planning work, after implementing a new practice-wide time and case management system
- Improving its recruitment and retention, with staff turnover falling to single figures
- Generating £100,000 in external income in its first year from other public sector clients, including local authorities, a Primary Care Trust and a probation authority. This figure doubled in year two
- Delivering efficiency savings of £200,000 a year, which meant set-up costs were repaid in the first year. The savings have also meant Legal Services Lincolnshire has been able to reduce its charge-out rate by 5%.
Eleanor Hoggart, assistant director at Legal Services Lincolnshire, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to win this award which is a fitting tribute to the commitment of everyone involved in the Shared Service, but particulary to our staff whose hard work has made it possible.”
Law firm Geldards was meanwhile shortlisted in the Law Firm Innovation category for its Law:Public tie-up with Kent County Council.
Geldards chairman David Williams said: "We were obviously disappointed not to come away with the prize but it was very rewarding to be short listed at such an early stage in the development of Law:Public."
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