The Government Legal Department is the largest in-house legal organisation in the United Kingdom's Government Legal Service. The Department is headed by the Treasury Solicitor. This office goes back several centuries. The office was enshrined in law by the Treasury Solicitor Act 1876, which established the Treasury Solicitor as a corporation sole. Employees of the department exercise legal powers which are vested in the corporation sole. The department is a non-ministerial government department and executive agency. The Treasury Solicitor reports to the Attorney General for England and Wales. The department employs more than 1,900 solicitors and barristers to provide advice and legal representation on a huge range of issues to many government departments.
History
The department was historically known as the Treasury Solicitor's Department, but changed name to the Government Legal Department on 1 April 2015. The new name reflects a "significant period of change", which saw the department double in size to 2,000 staff. The head of the department combines the ancient office of Queen's Proctor with that of Treasury Solicitor. He has the formal title of Her Majesty's Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor. Currently, the office is held by Jonathan Jones. He is also the Chief Executive of the department as an executive agency.
Functions
Government Legal Department lawyers work in both advisory and litigation roles. In litigation, lawyers bring and defend legal proceedings involving central government and related bodies. In advisory teams, lawyers provide advice to ministers and civil servants on both the current law and on proposed Government policies and future legislation. The department is the authorised address for service of proceedings on most government departments, by virtue of the list published under the Crown Proceedings Act 1947. In England, the Treasury Solicitor is the Crown's nominee for the collection and disposition of ownerless property. This typically comprises the assets of dissolved companies and the estates of persons who die intestate and with no known kin.
List of HM Procurators-General and Treasury Solicitors
King's Proctor/Procurators General
The office of King's Proctor is ancient; it also came to be known as HM Procurator General. The following were King's or Queen's Proctor after 1660:
Historically, there were two solicitors in the Treasury. The first, which existed alone until 1696, had become a sinecure by 1744, and perhaps as early as 1716; from the late 18th century the office included a salary of £200 a year. It was abolished in 1800. A second Treasury Solicitor, the precursor of the modern office, was established in 1696 and was assigned all the legal business undertaken in Westminster Hall; as the first Solicitor became a sinecure, the second Solicitor became the only one responsible for legal business. By 1786, its office-holder was carrying out legal work for other secretaries of state and the Attorney-General, and in the early nineteenth century was employed by other government departments as well. From 1794, the Solicitor was also barred from running their own private practice. The salary began at £500, increased to £1,000 in 1755 and then to £2,000 in 1794; until the 1830s, the Solicitor also charged fees for work done in departments outside the Treasury, but these were then abolished and he received an allowance of £850 in addition to his salary. The whole salary was fixed at £2,000 in 1851, and then increased to £2,500 in 1872. The following were Treasury Solicitors after 1660.
Treasury Solicitor (I; a sinecure by 1744 and abolished in 1800)
In 1876, Augustus Keppel Stephenson, the Treasury Solicitor, was appointed Queen's Proctor and Procurator General; since then, the offices of Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor have been held together. By 1971, the office came with a salary of £14,000 a year. The following have been jointly HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor:
