Our OC has taken legal advice as an EC decision. We decided what to do largely independent of our strata manager. Our problem did not involve the manager. We kept her informed and would have considered her advice if she had thought we were not acting appropriately but essentially, we got on with running the process since we needed to be sure we got it right. Regardless of what functions may have been delegated to the strata manager, the EC can continue to exercise any of its functions. Indeed it has a responsibility to do so. In this case I would not tell the strata manager anything about what you are doing till you have your legal advice. The lawyer will send a bill in due course and you will have to direct the manager to pay it then. In the meantime the manager does not need to know. Remember the manager works for you, not the other way around, and is obliged to act on the instructions of the EC. If you are not doing so already I would make sure all decisions from here on are formally minuted as resolutions of the EC and keep good records generally.
In the ACT legislation (so perhaps also in other states) there is a section about taking legal action. It places limits on how much the EC can spend before getting authority from a general meeting. It is worded based on the reasonable estimate from a legal adviser about the likely costs. IE If you have an estimate from the lawyer (in writing) which is within permitted limits but the cost actually goes a bit over, you can’t be crucified for that. Our Act also makes a distinction for urgent matters. IE. the EC can start to act on an urgent matter and sort out the rest later.
I would phone a suitable strata lawyer and describe your situation. They will generally tell you how they could help and estimate a cost. The EC could then formally resolve to accept the quote and act on the advice.
We put our requests for legal advice as a series of questions to which the lawyer gave a series of written answers. It worked well to clarify matters for the owners generally when it was presented to them. We have dealt with Teys Lawyers and were happy with them. I notice that another strata lawyer is a sponsor of this site but I have not had any dealings with them.