Whether there are procedures for sign-off or second counselling by a supervising lawyer or professional leader on court documents and advices, or whether the lawyers are effectively ‘sole practitioners’ How matters are allocated within the in-house area How the legal services unit determines whether to allocate a matter internally or externally Whether there is a matter management system (eg to track progress on cases, get reports on cases and on the overall caseload etc), and To whom the legal services manager reports if there are issues to be resolved. Information about the nature of knowledge management arrangements in place in the entity (for example, how the entity stores and accesses past opinions and its goes to the ability to provide consistency of ‘corporate memory’). This, too, entity’s service and to attain high standards in the conduct of court litigation. Knowledge management also includes generally collating, recording and accessing the specialist expertise that in-house lawyers may have, how they acquire it, how they share it and how they maintain it for future in-house lawyers. A knowledge management system should ideally address litigation knowledge, jurisdictional knowledge and understanding of relevant legislation. In this regard, entities should refer to the Legal Services Arrangements in Australian Government Agencies Better Practice Guide released by the Australian National Audit Office in August 2006. Information about the costs of using in-house lawyers compared to the costs of using external legal services providers. The entity should also ideally address issues such as whether the costs and choice of external counsel are affected by the use of in-house lawyers (for example whether appropriate counsel are prepared to accept direct briefing, whether direct briefing by in-house lawyers has an impact on preparation time etc for counsel). Information should also be provided on how an area costs in-house services during matters (so there can be a proper analysis of cost and benefit). Office of Legal Services Coordination Telephone: 02 6141 3642 E-mail: Re-issued: June 2018
Whether there are procedures for sign-off or second counselling by a supervising lawyer or professional leader on court documents and advices, or whether the lawyers are effectively ‘sole practitioners’ How matters are allocated within the in-house area How the legal services unit determines whether to allocate a matter internally or externally Whether there is a matter management system (eg to track progress on cases, get reports on cases and on the overall caseload etc), and To whom the legal services manager reports if there are issues to be resolved. Information about the nature of knowledge management arrangements in place in the entity (for example, how the entity stores and accesses past opinions and its ‘corporate memory’). This, too, goes to the entity’s ability to provide consistency of service and to attain high standards in the conduct of court litigation. Knowledge management also includes generally collating, recording and accessing the specialist expertise that in-house lawyers may have, how they acquire it, how they share it and how they maintain it for future in-house lawyers. A knowledge management system should ideally address litigation knowledge, jurisdictional knowledge and understanding of relevant legislation. In this regard, entities should refer to the Legal Services Arrangements in Australian Government Agencies Better Practice Guide released by the Australian National Audit Office in August 2006. Information about the costs of using in-house lawyers compared to the costs of using external legal services providers. The entity should also ideally address issues such as whether the costs and choice of external counsel are affected by the use of in-house lawyers (for example whether appropriate counsel are prepared to accept direct briefing, whether direct briefing by in-house lawyers has an impact on preparation time etc for counsel). Information should also be provided on how an area costs in-house services during matters (so there can be a proper analysis of cost and benefit). Office of Legal Services Coordination Telephone: 02 6141 3642 E-mail: Re-issued: June 2018
Guidance-note-2-use-of-in-house-lawyers-for-court-litigation.DOCX