Joint Legal Services - Staffordshire & West Midlands Police

Staffordshire and West Midlands Police Joint Legal Services is a collaboration established in 2012.

The Department consists of lawyers, investigators and business support staff and provides legal advice to officers and staff across all areas of force business. This means we serve a client base of over 13,000 individuals and a geographical area that runs from Leek in the north of Staffordshire to the outskirts of Coventry in the West Midlands with a population of over 3.8 million.

The Department comprises of various teams who specialise in different areas of law, with each team being led by a senior lawyer with extensive experience in the area of team focus. The overall Department is led by the Senior Leadership Team. There are offices both at the West Midlands Police & Staffordshire Police HQ.

There are several teams within Joint Legal Services all of which are supported by a Business Team.

Civil Litigation

• The team handles complex claims involving legal issues arising from breach of statutory provisions/common law including claims for compensation in the form of general damages and financial loss pursued against the Chief Constables of either force. Examples of the type of allegations/claims presented include civil claims following on from an inquest, unlawful arrest and false imprisonment claims, assault/battery, and excessive use of force, Breach of Human Rights Act, Data Protection Breach, Malfeasance in public office, Malicious prosecution, Occupiers liability, Property Damage and or Property Loss. Within the team, there is also a dedicated Claims Handler who deals with low value claims under the supervision of a Solicitor which are pre-litigation and usually involve claims for lost and/or damaged property where the total claim value is under £2,000.00.

Commercial & Property

• The team deals with a wide cross-section of commercial work, ranging from advisory and transactional work to drafting and negotiating commercial agreements with suppliers, contractors, and other public sector bodies. The team provides commercial legal advice to the Contracts and Procurement Team, in relation to the supply and distribution of goods and services to each force, as well as identifying and establishing the best routes to market. In addition, the team advises each force on wider commercial issues (including income generation opportunities, mutual aid and cross-border aid, special police services, donation agreements, funding agreements and collaboration agreements) along with drafting and reviewing any other significant commercial contracts prior to being signed by either force. The team also work closely with the Estates Team for each force to negotiate, agree, manage, and extend leases and licenses and to assist with the acquisitions and disposals of commercial properties.

Employment

• The team handles numerous work streams ranging from advice and representation on Employment Tribunal claims, County Court claims, as well as providing advice and support to the HR functions of both forces with legal advice on all aspects of employment law. In particular one of the strengths of the team is providing advice on restructuring and change within both forces. Another area of expertise is providing advice on pensions law.

Operational

• The team provides advice on all aspects of operational policing including but not limited to; Account Freezing Orders & Cash Forfeiture Applications under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002; Closure orders; Sexual Risk Orders; Sexual Harm Prevention Orders; Appeals under s.91 Sexual Offences Act 2003; Stalking Protection Orders; Firearms Licensing; Alcohol Licensing; Gang Injunctions; Anti-social Behaviour Injunctions; Forced Marriage Protection Orders; Female Genital Mutilation Protection Orders; Serious Crime Prevention Orders for offenders linked to CT; Community Protection Notice Appeals; disclosure of police material in family proceedings; Football Banning Orders; Slavery and Trafficking Risk Orders; and Violent Offender Orders. The Operational Team also provide an on-duty lawyer (Monday – Friday during office hours) for urgent requests received into Joint Legal Services that are time critical.

Regulatory

• The team works closely with the Professional Standards functions of both forces offering legal advice on all areas of police misconduct matters, assisting with drafting notices and presenting hearings to Chief Officers. The team respond to inquests where either force is a party to the proceedings or have had contact with the individual prior to their death. This can range from a light touch upon the inquest as an Interested Party, to being fully involved should there possibly be any blame apportioned to a lack of police action. The team also advise both forces on public order matters and where required will provide on call or command centre support for large scale events or protests where public order officers are deployed, and risks are identified.

Inquiry and Investigations

• The team support many teams across the Department by investigating Public Liability claims made against West Midlands Police and supporting the litigation process, conducting inquiries to assist the force lawyers respond to directions from the coroner, liaising with client departments to ensure that matters concerning Legal Professional Privilege are properly handled and to support any other requests requiring a corporate response or a large-scale review of documents for disclosure.

Business Support

• The team provides administrative assistance to all teams across the Department, they are the first point of contact for any communications into Joint Legal Services and then distribute the post, calls emails and requests for legal support to the relevant team(s). The team open all cases matters for all teams across the department and process any invoices for external expenditure incurred by the Joint Legal Services team. They also provide on-site office cover Monday - Friday at Lloyd House (West Midlands Police HQ).