diff --git a/provider/legal-azure/pom.xml b/provider/legal-azure/pom.xml
index 8487918e7fa5b02f908eab75f22bbce2d2544d13..4ce85e34a07db2cf545faf83d351452654f12ee9 100644
--- a/provider/legal-azure/pom.xml
+++ b/provider/legal-azure/pom.xml
@@ -109,12 +109,6 @@
             <groupId>org.projectlombok</groupId>
             <artifactId>lombok</artifactId>
         </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>org.opengroup.osdu.legal</groupId>
-            <artifactId>legal-core</artifactId>
-            <version>0.0.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
-            <scope>compile</scope>
-        </dependency>
 
         <!-- test -->
         <dependency>
diff --git a/provider/legal-azure/src/main/java/org/opengroup/osdu/legal/azure/tags/dataaccess/LegalTagRepositoryImpl.java b/provider/legal-azure/src/main/java/org/opengroup/osdu/legal/azure/tags/dataaccess/LegalTagRepositoryImpl.java
index f27dc1bcca0ef9060316f8a69fe9e254d2bc5f42..bc88dc043541cf22ae1143702b04301284aa1fdd 100644
--- a/provider/legal-azure/src/main/java/org/opengroup/osdu/legal/azure/tags/dataaccess/LegalTagRepositoryImpl.java
+++ b/provider/legal-azure/src/main/java/org/opengroup/osdu/legal/azure/tags/dataaccess/LegalTagRepositoryImpl.java
@@ -32,14 +32,11 @@ import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Optional;
-import java.util.concurrent.locks.ReentrantLock;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 @Repository
 public class LegalTagRepositoryImpl implements ILegalTagRepository {
 
-    private ReentrantLock mutex = new ReentrantLock();
-
     @Autowired
     private CosmosStore cosmosStore;
 
@@ -59,16 +56,11 @@ public class LegalTagRepositoryImpl implements ILegalTagRepository {
         String strId = String.valueOf(id);
 
         LegalTagDoc legalTagDoc = new LegalTagDoc(strId, legalTag);
-        try {
-            mutex.lock();
-            Optional<LegalTagDoc> existingDoc = cosmosStore.findItem(headers.getPartitionId(), cosmosDBName, legalTagsContainer, strId, strId, LegalTagDoc.class);
-            if (existingDoc.isPresent()) {
-                throw AppException.legalTagAlreadyExistsError(legalTag.getName());
-            }
-            cosmosStore.upsertItem(headers.getPartitionId(), cosmosDBName, legalTagsContainer, legalTagDoc);
-        } finally {
-            mutex.unlock();
+        Optional<LegalTagDoc> existingDoc = cosmosStore.findItem(headers.getPartitionId(), cosmosDBName, legalTagsContainer, strId, strId, LegalTagDoc.class);
+        if (existingDoc.isPresent()) {
+            throw AppException.legalTagAlreadyExistsError(legalTag.getName());
         }
+        cosmosStore.createItem(headers.getPartitionId(), cosmosDBName, legalTagsContainer, legalTagDoc);
         return id;
     }
 
diff --git a/provider/legal-azure/src/test/java/org/opengroup/osdu/legal/azure/tags/dataaccess/LegalTagRepositoryImplTest.java b/provider/legal-azure/src/test/java/org/opengroup/osdu/legal/azure/tags/dataaccess/LegalTagRepositoryImplTest.java
index 70cfae98617e6ab1127bb8abdd190902a6bd864f..8162d1f5f481e853427501914ad1df798b92d444 100644
--- a/provider/legal-azure/src/test/java/org/opengroup/osdu/legal/azure/tags/dataaccess/LegalTagRepositoryImplTest.java
+++ b/provider/legal-azure/src/test/java/org/opengroup/osdu/legal/azure/tags/dataaccess/LegalTagRepositoryImplTest.java
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ public class LegalTagRepositoryImplTest {
         long obtainedId = sut.create(legalTag);
 
         ArgumentCaptor<LegalTagDoc> arg = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(LegalTagDoc.class);
-        verify(cosmosStore).upsertItem(eq(dataPartitionId), any(), any(), arg.capture());
+        verify(cosmosStore).createItem(eq(dataPartitionId), any(), any(), arg.capture());
 
         assertEquals(arg.getValue().getId(), strId);
         assertEquals(obtainedId, id);