Warwickshire County Council’s Legal Services team have been recognised on multiple fronts for outstanding achievements that contribute to local communities.
Warwickshire County Council’s (WCC’s) Legal Services team have been recognised on multiple fronts for outstanding achievements that contribute to local communities at the national Lawyers in Local Government Awards 2022. Warwickshire Legal Services won ‘Legal Team of the Year’ and ‘Legal Project Team/Individual of the Year’, whilst also securing a Highly Commended result in ‘Significant Contribution to Local Government Law and Practice’ and a finalist position in ‘Junior Lawyer of the Year’.
The Lawyers in Local Government Awards celebrate the most dedicated and engaged professionals across local government legal practice and highlight the crucial work that local government lawyers do for their local communities.
Warwickshire Legal Service’s Children and Families legal team were delighted to be awarded ‘Legal Team of the Year’, in recognition of the work they do to safeguard the children of Warwickshire and the many other local authority areas that they support every day. The team provide a unique blend of legal skills, leadership, and innovation to suit their clients’ needs and the volume of work, as well as providing the most cost-effective service so that legal costs are reduced wherever possible. For example, they have been providing exceptional legal support to twelve different Local Authorities across the country as there was a national rise in children coming into care alongside simultaneous demands to save money. The Team also supported WCC’s Children and Families Services as part of its participation in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in which WCC was a core participant. During the pandemic the team were able to provide vital support to both WCC and the local courts as court hearings became virtual, and that the Family Law Portal was adopted to ensure matters continued to run smoothly throughout.
Jack Cantwell, a Senior Solicitor and team lead for the Corporate and Commercial legal team, was awarded ‘Legal Project Team/Individual of the Year’ in recognition of his work on a number of major initiatives. These include the County Council’s Warwickshire Property and Development Group; Milverton Homes building carbon neutral affordable and market rental homes; and the launch of the Warwickshire Recovery and Investment Fund. Each project was ambitious and innovative to help make Warwickshire the best it can be, with a crucial need for careful legal analysis of both risk and opportunity from Jack and his team in order to be delivered successfully.
WCC’s Assistant Director, Sarah Duxbury, was Highly Commended for her ‘Significant Contribution to Local Government Law and Practice’. Having worked for WCC since 1996, Sarah has turned her hand to a wide range of legal disciplines over the years including corporate and commercial, employment, and projects and prosecutions, later specialising in governance, partnership working and corporate and commercial matters. Sarah was a driving force in Warwickshire Legal Services Trading Ltd becoming the first alternative business structure from WCC to be established in 2017, with staff being retained as employees of the Council. She has led the legal team’s efforts to respond to the pandemic and to recover from it, including major projects such as the Warwickshire Recovery Investment Fund; the legal work and governance behind the creation of the Warwickshire Property and Development Group; and legal service’s role in childcare, promoting child mental health initiatives and supporting Child Friendly Warwickshire. She is generous with her time to share knowledge amongst local government lawyers, demonstrated by her role on the LLG Training Board. Since April 2021 Sarah has been the senior management lead for the new “Community Powered Warwickshire” programme, which aims to position community knowledge, skills, and assets at the heart of the Council’s work, recognising that communities are well placed to identify and respond to the challenges we’re faced with.
Stephanie Hartopp, who joined WCC as a trainee solicitor in September 2019 and is now a Solicitor for the Warwickshire Legal Services’ Courts team, was a finalist for ‘Junior Lawyer of the Year’. Stephanie built up her experience considerably in a short period of time, covering a wide variety of legal issues including sexual abuse, mental health, and complex placement issues. She champions women’s rights, using her previous and out of work experience of working with vulnerable women to make an outstanding Children and Families’ Lawyer, and despite being relatively newly qualified has already been appointed onto the committee of the Law Society’s Women’s Division. Internally Stephanie set up WCC’s Women’s Network, which works hard towards supporting women within the authority and raising issues of great importance to them. This year she already plans to develop her skills further by undertaking her own contested hearing on evidence.
Cllr Andy Jenns, Portfolio Holder for Customer and Transformation, said:
“I would like to congratulate Warwickshire Legal Services on this fantastic recognition across four different categories in the Lawyers in Local Government Awards.
“The team, and individuals highlighted in these awards, have delivered on some huge projects over the past year, including lots of work that is making a real difference for local communities across the county, and supporting the County Council’s aim to make Warwickshire the best it can be.
“Warwickshire Legal Services always strive to do the best job possible, approaching every project with passion and purpose, and we are very proud that the team is receiving this recognition for excellent work that makes a very real impact, producing innovative solutions and demonstrating integrity and care in the work they do every day.”
Warwickshire Legal Services provide legal support to Warwickshire County Council, Warwick District Council and Warwickshire Police, along with a number of other local authorities and public sector clients. The team provides a wide range of legal services in a number of specialist fields including governance, information law, planning, property, highways, education, commercial, and adults and children’s social care and safeguarding. They also provide a wide variety of day-to-day support and training and innovative solutions to assist clients to meet their challenges.
To find out more about Warwickshire Legal Services, visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/wls
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