South Tyneside Council, like many local authorities throughout the UK, delivers a wide range of public services including adult and children's social care, housing, property law, planning, and education. The council's legal team supports these services by providing expert advice, drafting documentation, and ensuring regulatory compliance. Amongst increasing caseloads and tight budgetary pressures, the council has embraced innovative technologies such as Lexis+® AI to streamline legal workflows and deliver efficient, cost-effective support to the wider function of the council.
John Rumney, Solicitor and Corporate Lead of the Legal and Governance team at South Tyneside Council, remarked that “I have received nothing but positive feedback in relation to Lexis+ AI. It assists all who use it to get through their work more quickly and efficiently. Colleagues have told me that the introduction of Lexis+ AI is seen as an investment in them and it gives them the ability to provide a better service to client officers which in turn provides greater job satisfaction. In terms of recruitment and retention, Lexis+ AI definitely assists South Tyneside Council in retaining and attracting lawyers from elsewhere which is vital in such a competitive market.”
John kindly presented us with just some of the brilliant ways solicitors and barristers, paralegals and legal executives at his local authority are using Lexis+ AI to save time and save money.
Time efficiency and productivity gains
One of the most cited benefits of Lexis+ AI is its ability to significantly reduce the time spent on legal research, drafting, and document preparation. Users in South Tyneside consistently reported time savings ranging from 30 minutes to several hours, allowing them to either take on more matters or focus on higher-value work. This theme highlights Lexis+ AI's practical utility in accelerating routine yet essential legal tasks.
“I used Lexis+ AI to draft an information document in respect of specific leases and the requirements before we can agree to a completion date. I was more than satisfied; Lexis+ AI generated a detailed information document which I can now provide alongside my initial letter to the solicitors. I'd estimate a weekly time saving of 1.5 hours.” – Conveyancing Assistant
Lexis+ AI's rapid response capabilities have been especially useful during urgent situations. A Childcare Barrister was “impressed” when they used Lexis+ AI as part of a response to an emergency regarding ‘without notice’ orders, and another Childcare Lawyer used it to expedite High Court applications related to DOLS. Both highlighted that the tool not only saved time but also reduced the need for repeated interactions with external counsel, thereby saving on legal fees and court costs.
“In the midst of the urgency of [this] case, the quick referencing saved a lot of time going back and forth with counsel and legal research. This subsequently saved time and resource […] and saved money on counsel fees and associated court fees, which would've been higher than normal given it was a High Court application. You are able to grow from [Lexis+ AI's] initial answer yourself, so I would still highly recommend this moving forward, and actually have done to other lawyers outside of the council!” – Childcare Lawyer
“I think [it] is a far better and cheaper starting (or end) point for all questions which you would otherwise refer to external counsel for an opinion on. I hope on this basis it saves a lot of money. It also saves a lot of time. It is so much quicker than trawling through all the references on the site. Thumbs up from me.” – Childcare Barrister
Immediate research answers aside, Lexis+ AI has become a valuable companion in producing clear, accurate, and actionable legal advice. For example, an Adult Social Care Lawyer at South Tyneside Council emphasised that Lexis+ AI had been helpful when drafting a memo with advice for social workers on a complex matter of a non-UK resident with care needs.
“I have used [Lexis+ AI] on a few matters and it has saved a lot of time of researching to find specific case law and guidance. […] I would say it saved on average 1 to 2 hrs which allows more time to take on other matters or just work on other things.” – Adult Social Care Lawyer
They had also used it for advice in relation to the capacity of selling property and tenancy agreements, while a housing solicitor used Lexis+ AI to create research notes that could be referenced by other solicitors in incumbent hearings, and to check service of notices. Not only did this have the effect of saving themselves time, but also creating templates that will pay the time saved forward to others.
“The potential was for [creating a research note] to save 2 hours of research/drafting – possibly more – and it will also save the same again going forward if used as a template. In relation to the Notice for Trespass work, I probably saved approximately 30 mins and avoided wasted time by pursuing a full application.” – Housing Solicitor
Enjoying the enhanced quality and accuracy of legal research
Users at South Tyneside Council value the accuracy, structure, and comprehensiveness of Lexis+ AI's outputs, particularly the way legal research results are presented with context, hyperlinked where relevant, and actionable. Even those with deep subject-matter expertise use the tool to review advice, explore less familiar legal territory, or build foundational drafts. Lexis+ AI is consistently viewed as an effective starting point, especially when research needed to be turned into advice rapidly and efficiently.
For example, an Adult Social Care Paralegal used Lexis+ AI to research for advice on responsibility for DWP overpayments. They highlighted the “reader-friendly” convenience of finding all necessary information, “with hyperlinks to the relevant legislation or case law” and potential defences, within a single platform.
“Finding all this information under one umbrella was really helpful as I usually have around a hundred tabs open, collating information from various sources! I would estimate around half a day's worth of time (3-4 hours) was saved.” – Adult Social Care Paralegal
In another instance, a Solicitor Advocate in Prosecutions saved several hours researching relevant case law; drafting answers to legal questions with reference to sources; honing advice explaining legislative changes, the appeal process of Abatement notices, and the merits of a hypothetical defence – simply and succinctly – to client departments.
“…Lexis+ AI provides easy and quick reference access to material it would otherwise take an age to find, digest and reformulate into case specific advice. This tool has saved me a couple of hours at a time in addressing legal issues and collating advice material for client departments.
[Lexis+ AI] identified working examples, case law, articles and statutory information upon which [we could be] satisfied of answering a particular question without the need to resort to external advice. In this particular scenario, the cost of Counsel's advice could have been anything between £500 – £1,000. This is just one example how I can foresee Lexis+ AI being used very effectively in future situations where we would otherwise have sought Counsel's opinion.” – Solicitor Advocate – Prosecutions
Reduction in external counsel costs and saving the council money
Many legal professionals highlight Lexis+ AI's ability to provide a credible substitute for preliminary external legal advice, especially on matters they might have otherwise referred to counsel. This represents not just a financial saving, but also an increase in in-house capacity and capability. While Lexis+ AI was sometimes seen as a “starting point” rather than a final opinion, it gave legal teams the confidence to answer complex queries internally, thereby reducing reliance on external counsel.
One Childcare Solicitor used Lexis+ AI to for a query about interim care orders and foster carer retirement regulations and managed to avoid spending over £500 as a result: “I was very impressed with the results. I saved at least an hour's research on the one task that I tested. There are much more complex questions that we could use the tool for and the costs of counsel saved would be at least £500 for each advice.”
A Solicitor and Deputy Monitoring Officer echoed this sentiment, estimating that they “saved around five hours of research and drafting time” when using Lexis+ AI to sense check areas of law they were unfamiliar with. “It would assist in narrowing down issues to reduce the cost of obtaining external advice,” they continued.
A Transformational Tool for Local Government Law
The integration of Lexis+ AI into South Tyneside Council's legal department has had a transformative effect. From rapid legal research to efficient document drafting, Lexis+ AI has enabled in-house barristers, solicitors and paralegals alike to reduce their reliance on costly external counsel and to free up capacity. The result? The team can focus on getting through their caseload and on high-value matters so their community is served more effectively, efficiently, and economically.
“I asked Lexis+ AI a specific research question regarding commercial lease extensions and drafting a briefing note based on the research. Was I satisfied with the results? Absolutely!!! The tool saved me quite a bit of time, at least an hour. I would guess the savings would be around £500 [if put to external lawyers to pull the advice together].” – Principal Legal Executive (Property & Conveyancing)
Get a quote for Lexis+ AI
You will also become a Lexis+ AI Insider to keep you up to date
with how AI can transform your legal work
* denotes a required field
