Legal Services

The Legal Services Section reports to the Assistant Chief Executive - Legal and Democratic and is headed by the Legal Practice Manager.

Legal Services seeks to efficiently deliver an excellent, effective and comprehensive legal service to all the Council's Directorates and to support its corporate decision making process.

Our teams of specialist lawyers provide advice to both the Council's officers and its Elected Members and also to public sector partners such as West Mercia Supplies and the Hereford and Worcester Combined Fire and Rescue Service.

Our advocates act on behalf of the Council at courts and tribunals throughout the country.

The Legal Services Section is divided into five core teams, each headed by a Senior Lawyer or Section Manager who in turn report to the Legal Practice Manager.

Legal Services has been awarded the "Lexcel" external accreditation for the quality of the service it provides and holds ISO 9001:2000 accreditation for its Land Charges unit.

The team was awarded "Legal Team of the Year" by the Local Government Chronicle in 2001. More recently one of our Assistant Solicitors won the "Young Local Government Solicitor of the Year 2005" award.

Contacts

Alan McLaughlin - Assistant Chief Executive - Legal and Democratic
amclaughlin@herefordshire.gov.uk

Kevin O'Keefe - Legal Practice Manager
kokeefe@herefordshire.gov.uk

Peter Crilly - Principal Lawyer (Corporate)
pcrilly@herefordshire.gov.uk

Teresa Farmer - Land Charges Manager
tfarmer@herefordshire.gov.uk

Geoff Hardy - Principal Lawyer (Litigation)
ghardy@herefordshire.gov.uk

John Howarth - Principal Lawyer (Children & Adult Services)
jhowarth@herefordshire.gov.uk

Martin Watts - Principal Lawyer (Conveyancing)
mwatts@herefordshire.gov.uk

Last Updated: 06 May 08,
Review Date: 20 September 2005