Derbyshire County Council has over 30,000 employees and an annual budget in excess of £700 million. It is now in its second year of a subscription to the Lexis+ Local Government Gold Package, providing access to a collection of research tools for its entire legal service team, comprising around 90 individual users.
We spoke to Mary Fairman, Assistant Director of Legal Services at Derbyshire County Council, and a practising solicitor, about her experience of deploying Lexis+ within her department, and how the council has benefitted from having access to the research tools.
All in one platform: a boon for efficiency
The Lexis+ Local Government Gold Package comprises Legal Research, 15x Practical Guidance modules (including Local Government and Public Law), Smart Forms, and Precedents. The package is a turnkey solution for public sector legal professionals who want to optimise their research efficiency by having a single information repository rather than spending time consulting an array of different sources, as Mary explains:
“Rather than using a number of sources to look for the information I need, I know that I can go through just one portal; you've got Pensions Ombudsman cases on there, primary legislation, guidance notes and everything in between. Having this single platform is what I find really useful.”
Even hesitant colleagues are won over when they realise the quality of the information provided by LexisNexis:
“One colleague was a bit worried about moving away from using a particular encyclopaedia, but after some time using LexisNexis she came back to me and said: ‘We actually don't need to keep this anymore because the information on LexisNexis in this particular area is so good’.”
Mary is also impressed with the powerful search functionality within the product and how it helps to improve overall legal research efficiency:
“I think being able to filter the search results and conduct sub-searches once you've done the first search is really helpful, because it allows you to refine it and get the information you are looking for.”
Assisting the transition to hybrid working
Derbyshire County Council started using LexisNexis during the pandemic, and it was a game changer in terms of enabling a relatively seamless shift from office based working to a remote hybrid approach. But even with many employees now back in the office, the team still greatly values the flexibility and efficiency afforded by the subscription:
“Having access to LexisNexis enables people to work remotely - that's one thing, which we couldn't do before. But it also means that people can just find something at the tap of a button, rather than having to go and hunt in a book, which might be on somebody else's desk! So having access to LexisNexis definitely saves time in general terms, irrespective of remote working.”
A modern research tool you can trust
Mary's colleague, Helen Barrington, who heads up Legal Services at the council, was keen on moving away from paper based research materials to modernise and improve efficiency. But it was vital that their choice of online research tool was authoritative and kept up-to-date.
“Helen was very keen on the fact that LexisNexis is updated regularly. She is not a fan of what she calls “Google law” and the reliability and accuracy of information was paramount. Fortunately, we can rely on LexisNexis reflecting the most current law - in fact it's even more up-to-date than some government websites!”
The implementation of Lexis+ at Derbyshire County Council has been transformative, particularly in response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the modernisation efforts led by the Director, Helen Barrington. Shifting from paper to a comprehensive online tool has greatly improved efficiency, remote work capabilities, and access to up-to-date legal information. Overall, the positive feedback underscores Lexis+ as essential in supporting the council's legal and governance tasks.
Try Lexis+ UK Legal Research
free for 7 days
Free trials are only available to individuals based in the UK, Ireland and selected UK overseas territories and Caribbean countries
* denotes a required field
