annual report 2012 – 13 - Australian Government Solicitor

DEVELOPING COMPETITIVENESSTHROUGH PRICINGTo better help clients manage their legalexpenditure and to adapt to the newprocurement arrangements under the LSMUL,our client services, finance and legal teamsmade concerted efforts to improve the way wedevelop and express our pricing for individualbids and tenders.We continued to promote our pricing strategythrough client meetings and communicationsas well as bids. We clearly outlined our valuefor money, value-adds and flexibility in ourpricing strategies in all responses to clientrequests for quotes. The client feedback wehave received indicates that our pricing levelsare consistently competitive.Our practiceSTRATEGIC FOCUS FOR 2012–15— continue to evolve our national practice— further develop our legal services capabilityand capacity— enhance and promote our reputation as thekey provider of core government work.KEY OUTCOMESIn 2012–13 AGS achieved:— benefits to clients through greaterconsistency and better allocation ofmatters— promotion of our reputation through keyevents to mark our service to governmentsince federation.STRENGTHENING OUR NATIONAL PRACTICEIn 2011–12, we implemented a restructureof our legal practices to better position theorganisation to meet future challenges. Therestructure aimed to deliver more sustainabledeployment of legal resources and supportfunctions and greater consistency in qualityand service across offices. It was expected totake 2 years to be fully implemented.At the end of 2011–12 we assessed therestructure’s progress and, as a result, in2012–13 we implemented further changesto strengthen practice leadership andsupervision practices and support corporateprocesses. They included increased supportfor team leaders, in particular leadershipdevelopment, mentoring opportunitiesand training on remote supervision.At the end of the 2-year implementationperiod, the restructure is now delivering clearbenefits to clients through greater consistencyand ability to pull together expertise andteams across offices to meet client needs.AGS lawyers are also seeing benefits fromgreater opportunities to work with abroader range of experts, increased careerdevelopment opportunities, clearer careerpaths and more focused training anddevelopment.AGS Annual report 2012–13 23