Geldards and Kent County Council Announce First Signing to Law:Public

Law firm Geldards and Kent County Council have announced that they have signed up South Derbyshire District Council to Law:Public, their revolutionary joint legal service offering to the public sector.

Law:Public represents one of the largest specialist public sector legal teams in the UK, offering over 100 lawyers from across Geldards and within Kent County Council specialising in the full spread of legal services to local Government and other public sector organisations.

Geoff Wild, Director of Law & Governance at Kent County Council, said: “South Derbyshire District Council is just the kind of organisation we felt would benefit from the Law:Public model. It can now rely on a range of lawyers, as and when it needs them, at a cost that will see it make the significant savings needed to satisfy the current constraints on public sector spending.

“We believe collaboration across the public and private sectors is the way of the future and that it will ensure that clients across the public sector receive the best of both worlds - the cultural fit, expertise and value for money of the public sector, combined with the business drive, efficiency and skill set of the private sector.”

Frank McArdle, Chief Executive of South Derbyshire District Council said, "The Law:Public model allows the Council the facility of having legal advice available to it when it is needed, across every potential scenario we may face in the future, whilst saving the authority money. On this basis and after carrying out extensive cost analysis, the decision was not a difficult one."

David Williams, Geldards Chairman, said: “We believe that this is the first of many announcements as various bodies sign up to Law:Public as they learn that they can cut their external legal spend whilst delivering a better service using the combined expertise of both Geldards and Kent County Council.”