Peterborough City Council is set to name just one firm to cover all its legal needs.
Solicitor to the council Mark Hynes has run a beauty parade of four firms to decide who will pocket the lion’s share of his annual £1.8m budget.
Hynes declined to name the four firms, but The Lawyer understands that they are Nabarro Nathanson, Eversheds, Pinsents and Beachcroft Wansbroughs.
“I have decided that we need to rationalise [our law firms]. I think we can get a better deal for the authority if we have one preferred partner,” said Hynes.
The council instructs a number of firms at present, including Nabarros, Eversheds, Trowers & Hamlins and a number of local Peterborough firms.
Hynes is now near the end of the partnering tender process and will announce the identity of the council’s legal partner in early August.
“We’ve got a huge amount of work that we need the expertise of a large public sector player for,” said Hynes.
Current council projects include the externalisation of all of the council’s corporate services, on which Nabarros is working, and the large-scale voluntary transfer of council houses on which Trowers is advising. A £70m education PFI and an eight-year regeneration of the city centre are also in the planning stages.