Met Police unveils slimmed-down panel after cost-saving review
The Metropolitan Police has taken an axe to its external legal panel in a cost-cutting move that has seen nine firms exit the roster.
Edward Solomons
Capsticks, Clyde & Co, Michelmores, Plexus, TLT and Weightmans are the six firms to win places on the panel, which has been slashed from 13 at the last review.
The Lawyer reported last summer that the Met was capping panel fees at £130 per hour, prompting claims that it was sacrificing quality for price at the height of the phone-hacking scandal (18 July 2011).
Existing panel members Capsticks, Michelmores and TLT have been kept on for another four years following a tender process open to lawyers from anywhere in England and Wales.
But Bircham Dyson Bell, Burges Salmon, Eversheds, Blake Lapthorn, DWF, Mayo Wynne Baxter, Sharpe Pritchard, Taylor Walton and Veitch Penny have all been removed from the roster.
Met director of legal services Edward Solomons said in a statement: “In this procurement exercise, we’ve sought to drive down costs. In a democracy, the police are subject to the law.
“The police are corporate bodies, and like all large organisations buy and sell land, procure assets and enter into many transactions which require legal advice or drafting. For all this, they rely upon legal services delivered both in-house and through external lawyers, selected for their competence and relevant skills.”
The £5m-a-year panel was last reviewed four years ago (21 July 2008).
The panel - covering a range of practice areas - is also available for police forces, police authorities and police and crime commissioners in England and Wales to use. It goes live in June, a year after tendering started.
The review, known as the National Framework for the provision of Legal Services, was carried out by the Met’s directorate of legal services, supported by the National Policing Improvement Agency.
Readers' comments (4)
Anonymous | 22-Mar-2012 4:56 pm
peanuts and monkeys springs to mind
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Anonymous | 22-Mar-2012 5:06 pm
Peanuts and monkeys - sounds more like sour grapes to me !
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Anonymous | 22-Mar-2012 6:27 pm
The strange thing is that for a London police force there is no way they can pay London solicitors to do that work. You simply cannot afford partners at those rates. This means that witnesses will have to go up to Manchester for interviews or do everything over the phone.
The Met does not have a great track record with civil claims recently; I can't see this improving it.
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Anonymous | 23-Mar-2012 9:47 am
Anonymous | 22-Mar-2012 6:27 pm
I don't know of any partners oop 'ere that would work for £130 per hour on police work for the Met and consider it profitable! Massive risk, complex advice/litigation and very time consuming.
They have to consider that not only would it not be profitable, the assigned partners' time is being drained by that client and they are not billing at normal rates for other clients either. So you either hire in or make up, wich is extra expense.
Either way it appears a thankless and unrewarding task that's going to keep you nightmares, both figurative (trying to turn a profit) and literal (given the subject matters you'll be trying to advise on at the moment and the inevitable covert surveillance!!!).
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