M A Y 2 0 0 9
The dire public finances mean
innovation is the only way to preserve
the quality of public sector inhouse
legal services
Comment
Jonathan
Edwards
lpc survey reveals that Scottish Local Authority legal
departments are “Internet Ready” but there is some
way to go before they can really benefit from
knowledge management and “network” effects. As
Jonathan Edwards argues in his comment piece, the
financial crises is certain to precipitate change
There was an excellent response to lpc’s survey of the
various heads of Scottish Local Authority legal
departments.
The survey sought to ascertain the impact of technology
and, in particular, the Internet. The good news was that in
most authority legal departments there was a significant
use of technology and the Internet. However, it also
appears that there is still work to be done before the
benefits and opportunities of the
Internet and the management of
knowledge have been fully
grasped.
While take up of external e-
mail and using the Internet for
both paid and public research
was near universal, there were
considerable divergences
between Councils as to
broader use of the Internet.
Similarly there were meaningful
variations in the use of and
approach to knowledge
management.
With the financial outlook dominated by the government’s
budget and the certainty (whichever party is in government
both in Holyrood and Westminster) of significant reductions
in funding, local authority legal departments are faced with
the strong likelihood that they will have to get by with less.
At the same time the challenges which face legal
departments are only likely to increase. lpc:inhouse looks
at the lessons from the survey.
Survey points to web-centric future
for Council Legal Departments
The headlines have said it all; the country’s
finances are shot. Whatever is said (or more
likely not said) by any of the political parties,
north or south of the border, the country is likely
to face an extended period of public sector
spending cuts.
These cuts are bound to be felt by local
authorities and necessarily by the legal
departments of those authorities. In both the
public and private sectors, facing up to a period
of national austerity will be a new experience for
many and, for the remainder, an experience they
would rather not repeat. But that is the reality
with the upshot that the services and facilities
that we have come to expect just won’t be able
to be maintained in the same fashion as in
recent times.
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The Billable Hour R.I.P.?
Budget constraints add emphasis to the need to constantly
review fees charged by external solicitors.
Within the lpc site, the death of the hourly charge is clearly
signposted. Fixed or semi-fixed charging for matters that have
a fairly fixed structure such as conveyancing should have been
the case for a long time. But where advisory or complex work is
involved what is the alternative to time based charging?
Actually there are quite a number; it all depends on changing
how the relationship between the inhouse department and its
external supplier is structured.
In next month’s lpc:inhouse we will be looking at Alternative
Feeing Structures for external suppliers - it could save you a
great deal of time and money.....
c 2009 LawPracticeConsultancy.com
lpc white paper
FIVE steps inhouse can take to
transform legal services provision
View Jonathan
Edwards’
presentation to the
Law Society of
Scotland 60th
Anniversary
Conference
File Size 2.5MB
View the Scotsman’s
article featuring
Jonathan Edwards’
proposals to secure
the future of the
Scottish Legal
Profession
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