Purpose

Whilst Solicitors have the legal right to
appear in the County Court and Magistrates Court, the Council under
the Constitution requires authority to institute and conduct legal
proceedings to be authorised. In particular this is for an
associate lawyer on behalf of the Council to under these
duties

The purpose and reason for the decision is for Kevin Burns an
Associate Lawyer Practising Certificate SRA number 519471 to be
able to defend or participate in any legal proceedings brought
against the Council (or its employees as a result of actions
incurred whilst undertaking legal work for the Council) or where
the Council’s interests are affected and to negotiate
settlement.

To facilitate the discharge of Council functions both civil and
criminal across the district in so far as relevant to the
role.

Decision

Decision Maker: Monitoring Officer/Deputy
Monitoring Officer
Decision status: Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No

In accordance with section 2.35.5 of the Constitution the Head of
Legal & Democratic Services hereby approved and delegates
authority to Kevin Burns (Associate Lawyer)(Casual)) the power
to:-
Institute and conduct all civil and criminal proceedings by the
Council.

Alternative options considered

Option 1 -
To approve the delegated authority as set out above

Option 2
To require the Service Manager to approve all prosecutions on
behalf of casual lawyers. This would be time consuming and an
inefficient use of council resources.

Recommend Option 1