A COUNCIL'S legal section received a quality mark from the Law Society yesterday.

For the past 18 months, staff at Darlington Borough Council's legal services department have been working towards the Lexcel standard, which is the Law Society quality mark for solicitors' practices, in-house legal departments and local authority legal practices.

Yesterday, Darlington's Mayor, Councillor Dorothy Long presented the Lexcel certificate to staff.

The award means the council's legal service has met the required standards laid down by the Law Society.

Cath Whitehead, legal services manager, said: "The Lexcel award reflects the hard work, commitment and enthusiasm of the legal team, which has enabled Darlington to become only the fifth authority in the North-East to receive the award.