It spends billions of pounds each year on services to the public. A local authority legal department is often one of the largest legal practices in its area. The work required of its solicitors is often complex and subject to frequent change, requiring a high standard of training and expertise, and covering a wide range of legal and managerial skills.
Local authorities carry out a huge variety of functions.
Among these are education, social services, housing, planning and development control, highways, consumer protection, leisure and cultural services, economic development, some licensing functions and markets. Police, fire and public transport is also dealt with in a local authority context. The functions dealt with vary according to the type of local authority. You will need to know some of the differences in activities if you are interested in particular areas of legal work. In other areas functions are divided between two layers of local authority county councils and district councils, with the counties being responsible for education, social services, consumer protection, libraries, highways, police, fire, and transport, with the remaining functions being carried out by the district.