Blog: 15th December 2023 - Deborah Evans, CEO LLG

Don’t you love it when your projects intertwine? LLG likes to stick its fingers in many pies and grasp all available nettles firmly by the throat. 

We are firm believers in building positive, nurturing cultures to allow lawyers to develop and thrive. We equip lawyers to grow into authentic leaders. 

So, it shouldn’t be a surprise to us that the Grant Thornton report on Preventing Failure in Local Government puts culture and leadership firmly at the centre of good governance. Culture is so hard to measure, but easy to see. A toxic culture is a red flag. Within a toxic culture, bad behaviours are normalised and the ability to speak up is lost. Poor or absent leadership is also a red flag - whether it be due to churn in senior posts with interim appointments, or a lack of authority due to poor delegations, or through overstepping boundaries unchecked, it’s a problem.

With overstepping the boundaries comes a challenge to the rule of law. No man or organisation should be above the law, but what if members of your council, or other officers, disregard rules, conflicts, biases and proper process? The Legal Services Board are working hard in this area, as are the SRA who are looking to develop advice on ethics for in-house solicitors. Lawyers sometimes need clear advice as to how to handle judgement calls in very difficult situations.

Lawyers need to be well equipped for such (fortunately rare) situations. So, we believe that an understanding of good governance is not just for those in senior positions. It starts the moment you step in to your career in local government. We aim to plant that seed through developing building blocks for our trainees and apprentices, through continuing our program of providing bursaries for junior lawyers for our residential conferences, through developing the monitoring officers of the future through LLG Inspire, through drafting a Code of Conduct for the three statutory officers within the golden triangle. 

You are all lawyers for a reason - you most likely have a curiosity for knowledge, a strong sense of right and wrong, and a desire for justice. 

Together we can all be catalysts for change. Together we can challenge toxic cultures, poor decision making, and absence of leadership. Whether you are a trainee or a director, develop a thirst for good governance. It will serve you well. 

Deborah Evans

CEO

LLG