In 2014, Legal Services were awarded Lexcel accreditation, which is the Law Society’s standard for excellence in legal practice management and client care, an accreditation we are proud to say continues to be held and which provides a framework through which Legal Services operate efficiently, provide a good level of customer service, manage risk, reduce costs and promote profitability.
Legal Services aspire to deliver:
- A clear focus on customer outcomes
- A facilitative approach based on risk awareness, not risk aversion
- An in-house private practice approach to service delivery and standards whilst maintaining a public sector ethos
- Assurance of efficiency of process and provision of service
Our experienced team of lawyers have received recognition for their delivery of legal services in legal publications including the Lawyer and Lawyers in Local Government and have been awarded a number of highly regarded awards, most recently the LLG Community Impact Award 2023. We first won the LLG Local Government Award in 2015, and since then we have won Litigation Lawyer of the Year, Governance Lawyer, Place Related Lawyer and CILEX Lawyer of the Year.
The experience and skills of our team together with our understanding of the ethics and ethos of public sector organisations places us in the ideal position to be able to provide a comprehensive legal service to the council along with outside bodies on a full range of legal matters at a cost that is competitive with Private Practice firms.
We are solutions and outcome focused, always seeking to provide practical options and solutions by removing or working around what may be regarded as barriers and consistently go above and beyond to provide good client care, sound legal advice and a fantastic quality of work.
Our in-house legal services are split across four teams, where our talented and skilled staff cover a range or specialisms to deliver the very best legal advice and the highest level of customer service. Our client sensitivity, legal knowledge, and corporate efficiency allow us to respond to client needs adeptly, while our position at the heart of a local authority provides us with a unique perspective, allowing us to work on projects that benefit the local community.
Head of Legal Services: Tracey Christie
Legal Services Practice Manager: Joanne Hartshorne
Litigation Team:
- Civil litigation
- Criminal litigation
- Trading standards and consumer protection
- Inquests
- High profile prosecutions
- Multi-million-pound civil claims
- Licencing (for taxi and premises licences)
- Judicial reviews
- Health and safety prosecutions
- Housing matters; including repossessions
- ASBO injunctions
- Debt recovery
- Food safety
- Contractual litigation
- Litter prosecutions
- Landlord and tenant rights
- Administrative law
Social Care and Education Team:
- Care, supervision and Child protection
- Adoption proceedings
- Forced marriages
- FGM (Female Genital Mutilation)
- Mental health and adult social care
- Education prosecution (non-school attendance)
- Education advice
- Court of protection
- Youth offending
- Special educational needs
- Judicial Reviews
Commercial Property Team:
- Regeneration
- Development work
- Commercial Property and Residential conveyancing
- Local land charges
- Planning
- Highways
- Advice and support in relation to WV Living and Wolverhampton Homes
- Academy conversions and schools
- Traffic regulation orders
- Right to Buys
- Auctions
- Compulsory purchases
- Deferred payment agreements
Corporate Team:
- Commercial contracts
- Construction
- Procurement
- Competition and subsidy control
- Joint ventures and partnerships
- Committee and governance Projects
- Employment law
- EU and central government funded work
- PFI
- Company law advice
- Pension Fund matters
- Grant Funding
“The Council’s inhouse lawyers perform an essential role in shaping major transactions and projects to ensure not just legal compliance but achievement of best value. The lawyers are embedded in the management team and responsible for more than black letter law advice.” — John Roseblade, Director of Resident Services