Our Achievements
Being a fully integrated service helps us to innovate and take advantage of exciting opportunities. By winning the LGC award for Driving Efficiency Through Technology, we have proven that by working together we can be more efficient and innovative, transforming public services for the better.
Driving efficiency through technology
Council lawyers spent thousands of pounds on printing paper bundles and faced tight deadlines due to the need to courier them to court. A digital solution seemed simple but it was a systemic challenge that required collective action, a developed IT solution, a party willing to lead and a sustainable business case. The South London Legal Partnership has overcome this challenge, bringing together Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton LBCs and Kingston upon Thames RBC, two IT suppliers and a number of London family courts.
Further Achievements
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The Dispute Resolution & Compliance Team has recently represented the interests of 8 local authorities in the High Court in conjunction with numerous other local authorities across England to address issues of public interest in seeking injunctions against “persons unknown” under s.222 Local Government Act 1972, s.187(b) Town & Country Planning Act 1990 and other statutory powers, following the complex issues raised by the Court of Appeal in Canada Goose UK retail Ltd & Anr –v- Persons Unknown and PETA [2020 EWCA Civ 303] Judgment is awaited.
- Turley –v- London Borough of Wandsworth & Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2017] EWCA Civ 189 – confirmation that the pre Localism Act 2011 succession rules for a secure tenancy did not amount to a breach of article 8 and 14 (private life and non-discrimination) of the ECHR, and therefore the relevant sections of the Housing Act 1985 were not incompatible.
- Bushra Saleem –v- London Borough of Wandsworth [2017] UKSC 2015/0253 - local authorities were not required by section 11 to engage in an assessment of children to find out whether there were facts of which they were unaware, that made it inappropriate to evict the children from their homes, in the light of their best interests.
- London Borough of Richmond -v- Johnson [S2011/204] –SLLP were successful in the landmark prosecution involving demolition of a house within a conservation area resulting in POCA recovery and the largest fine for heritage offences before the Rance case.
- The Queen o/a/o Essence Bars (London) Ltd t/a Essence -v- Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames [2016] EWCA Civ 63 – SLLP were successful in securing the leading authority on amending notices of appeal in licensing proceedings following an error in identifying the correct appellant.
- Successfully obtaining possession orders for temporary accommodation since the lifting of the stay on possession claims.
- Acting for several of our clients obtaining injunctions for anti-social behaviour, including s.222 injunction to prevent parties on a housing estate in Wandsworth, injunction to prevent harassment of council and social services staff.
- The employment team advises and supports our shared service clients on a huge variety of employment issues, both contentious and non-contentious. In the last 12 months we have, amongst other achievements, successfully resolved a constructive dismissal and age discrimination dispute for the Governing Body of a Catholic School; defended TUPE based litigation on behalf of a client Borough; re-negotiated the terms of a co-working agreement with a Government Department ; and supported all our clients, including local authority companies, with the plethora of employment challenges thrown up by Covid-19.