About Us

nplaw – the name is a contraction of Norfolk Public Law – came into being on 1st October 2010, the result of a merger by Norfolk County Council, Norwich City Council and Great Yarmouth Borough Council of their separate legal teams. The merger has been an outstanding success, giving our stakeholder clients access to a much wider range of legal services than previously, services delivered by specialist lawyers who understand the local government context. Our original three stakeholder clients have been joined by Broadland District Council since 1st October 2020. We currently provide a full legal service to all four stakeholder clients.

Although a part of Norfolk County Council, we are run as a separate, self-funding business and we offer advice and assistance to other local authorities, public bodies and charities.

Culture and core values

Between us, nplaw’s staff have many years of local government service and working for the benefit of the public is at the heart of our culture. This strong sense of serving the community extends throughout nplaw from our longest serving members of staff to our most recent appointees.

Business structure

nplaw has more than 70 lawyers working across three teams: People; Places; and Governance and Dispute Resolution.

Careers

If you are interested in working with us, please have a look at our Working with Us page

Our complaints procedure

We are sure that you will receive an excellent service from nplaw. However, if you feel you would like to make a complaint, the complaints procedure applicable to nplaw is as follows:-

1. If you are in any way dissatisfied with the service from nplaw, you should take the matter up with the person who provided the service or the Team Lead within nplaw or the Director of Legal Services (nplaw) & Monitoring Officer. In any event, the Director of Legal Services (nplaw) & Monitoring Officer will investigate the matter.
2.  If still dissatisfied, you should write to Chief Executive Officer, Norfolk County Council, Martineau Lane, Norwich, Norfolk, NR1 2DH, who will arrange for a review to be carried out. This will look into all aspects of your complaint and what actions have been taken to resolve the matter. Your letter will be acknowledged within 5 working days and we will let you know the findings of the review within a further 15 working days. In the Chief Executive Officer’s absence, the Director of Democratic and Regulatory Services will undertake this function.
3. If you believe that your complaint is one about maladministration by Norfolk County Council, you may complain to the Commissioner for Local Administration at:-

Online: Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

By Telephone: 0300 061 0614 between 10am and 4pm, Monday to Friday.

By Post: The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, PO Box 4771, Coventry, CV4 0EH.