We have supported the development and commercialisation of a number of shared legal services.  One recent one was that of Shape Law and Governance that covers authorities in Somerset and Hampshire.  The objectives for the service were:

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• The creation of a cost effective and efficient legal service

• Increased resilience

• Capacity to grow

• Achieves commercial ambitions for the partners specifically:

  • Supporting commercial development of the partner local authorities

  • Generating income as a service

• New markets are reached by the service through making the most of the geographical reach of the new partnership

• Enterprise in the service and across the councils is increased

​The business case examined the potential benefits of the new service and highlighted a series of critical success factors for realising these benefits. 

 

These factors were:

 

• The right leadership

• Effective case management to drive lean working

• Autonomy to act as a business within existing LA structure

• Skills development

• A focus on merging cultures during implementation

 

As part of developing the implementation plan we built on these critical success factors by undertaking comprehensive process mapping of existing process and the design of new, more efficient processes.  We designed the new structure and developed job descriptions for the new leadership roles needed for the service to be a success.  We also developed partnership agreements for the partner authorities to ensure the service was given the autonomy to act as a business and thereby realise the potential benefits of the joint service.

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