Council legal departments being privatised

Posted By: James

Tuesday 19th August 2014

The liberalisation of the legal market and growing financial pressures are pushing an increasing number of councils to privatise their legal departments, according to the FT. Under the Legal Services Act, council legal teams can become so-called alternative business structures (ABSs). Buckinghamshire County Council and a joint venture by Harrow and Barnet borough councils have received licences to hive off their legal teams this month. Buckinghamshire Law Plus, which will combine 45 Buckinghamshire council lawyers with Milton Keynes fire authority’s, is projecting a £1.7m shared profit over five years that will return directly to the council. "The financial pressures on local authorities mean a lot are looking at different approaches to commercialisation to get additional revenue; that's across the board, not just in legal services," said Bethan Evans, senior partner at Bevan Brittan.

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