About LGG

Our board

STEPHEN TURNER – LGG Ltd Chair

Stephen Turner qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives before being admitted to The Roll in 1986 and moving into local government from private practice in 1994. He is currently at Kingston upon Hull City Council where he specialises in criminal and regulatory prosecution work and licensing law.

Stephen was the Chair of SLG 2010 – 2011, the National Executive Committee’s National Knowledge Coordinator and is currently the secretary of the Yorkshire and the Humber Branch of SLG.

MARIE KELLY-STONE – LGG Ltd Company Secretary

Marie Kelly-Stone is Head of Legal Services at Dartford Borough Council. She is a Director of ACSeS and current Chairman of ACSeS South East Branch. Marie is past Chairman of Kent Secretaries.

Marie’s legal career began in 1982 (qualifying in 1988), at East Hertfordshire District Council. Her extensive experience in governance, policy development, assessment and analysis supports her passion as a strong advocate for local government and community leadership.

DAVID CARTER

David Carter is the Strategic Director for Customers Workforce and Governance at Warwickshire County Council. He is the Councils Monitoring Officer and is also responsible for a range of front line and support services.

David qualified as a Solicitor in 1979. His responsibilities in Warwickshire include leadership of the Councils Learning and Development work. The Council has a strong record of developing its lawyers including its long established trainee solicitor scheme.

David was President of the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors in 2008 and was Chairman of the Law Society Local Government group in 1995.

JOHN POLYCHRONAKIS

John Polychronakis is Chief Executive of Dudley MBC having previously been their Director of Law & Property for 16 years.

He is a solicitor and started his local government career at Liverpool City Council in 1975 before moving to Sefton MBC in 1983 as Assistant Director.

John was President of the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors in 2004.

DENNIS HALL – LGG director

Dennis Hall, is currently Branch Secretary of SLG Northern, a director of SLG Limited, and one of the longest serving NEC members.

Dennis was the first National Chair of SLG Limited in 2003-2004 .He was responsible for the introduction of the first membership changes to its executive composition in many years providing wider opportunities for the engagement of young solicitors at NEC level. He has been an NEC member since 1993 having served the Local Government Group as Chair of its Development and Professional Practice Subcommittees.

He brings to LGG Limited a wealth of local government experience gained at a senior level: admitted in 1981, he was Borough Solicitor with Sedgefield Borough Council for 22 years up to local government reorganisation in 2009: he was also the Council’s Monitoring Officer.

Dennis was seconded to Durham County Council prior to reorganisation and was District Lead on legal and constitutional matters, including standards and member ethics, during the implementation of unitary local government in Durham.

His specialisms and interests include governance, town & country planning, commercial and procurement law. He holds an LLB. Honours degree in law from Manchester University, an LLM. masters degree in law with a distinction gained at Northumbria University. He is also a Legal Associate, by examination, of the Royal Town Planning Institute

He is currently a solicitor practising in the commercial team at Gateshead Council.

SLG Northern is recognised as one of the most active regional groupings within SLG, being the first to exploit innovative opportunities to develop email communications with members, and joint working/training beyond the immediate local government community with local universities and private practise

He contributes articles from time to time in Noter Up and other local government periodicals.

NIGEL SNAPE - LGG director

Nigel Snape is Head of Legal & Governance at Malvern Hills District Council. He is a past Chairman and currently Treasurer of Solicitors in Local Government. Nigel has spent the whole of his legal career in local government; following articles at South Lakeland District Council (yes, he's that old that he had articles rather than a training contract!) Nigel moved to Malvern in 1986 where he has had a variety of roles from assistant solicitor through to his current position.

IAN SPAFFORD - LGG director

Ian Spafford retired from Leeds City Council in April 2011 where he was the head of community services and civil litigation and had a local government legal career spanning three decades.

He began his local authority career in 1972 with articles at Sunderland County Borough Council and then at Sunderland Met District before being admitted as a solicitor in 1976 and progressing to the role of senior solicitor. In 1987 Ian joined Gateshead MBC as assistant director of legal and administrative services and ten years later joined Leeds City Council.

Ian Spafford was born in Hull and graduated from Newcastle University. Outside of the law, Ian is a lay member of the General Medical Council Fitness to Practice Panels and a trustee/director of After Adoption (Yorkshire) Limited.

More about LGG

Speaking for LGG

LGG events attract some of the finest speakers from the legal world - barristers, solicitors, senior figures in local and central government, opinion formers and sector specialists.

Together they help us create and deliver an annual programme of conferences and seminars designed to provide the public sector legal professional with the most up-to-date and informed comment and debate on a wide range of topics. In addition, these events give speakers a forum to share their views and ideas and also provide significant networking and new business opportunities.

If you are interested in becoming an LGG speaker please contact us on
01403 788240.

Course focus

Committees - Basic Survival Guide