The Government Legal Department (previously called the Treasury Solicitor's Department) is the largest in-house legal organisation in the United Kingdom's Government Legal Profession.
The department is headed by the Treasury Solicitor (formally "The Solicitor for the affairs of His Majesty's Treasury"). This office goes back several centuries. The office was enshrined in law by the Treasury Solicitor Act 1876 (39 & 40 Vict. c. 18), which established the Treasury Solicitor as a corporation sole (an office with perpetual succession). 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.
Contents
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", during which the department doubled in size to 2,000 staff.
The head of the department combines the ancient office of King's Proctor with that of Treasury Solicitor. She has the formal title of His Majesty's Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor. The office is currently held by Dame Susanna McGibbon who succeeded Sir Jonathan Jones after his resignation on 8 September 2020. She 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 (with the exception of Lancashire, Manchester and Cornwall, where the function is delegated to Farrer & Co), the Treasury Solicitor is the Crown's nominee for the collection and disposition of ownerless property (bona vacantia). 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 (or Queen'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:
1660–1669: Alexander Cheeke
1669–1700: Samuel Franklyn
1700–1710: Thomas Smith
1710–1714: George Smith
1714–1727: Henry Farrant
1727–1750: Edward Greenly
1750–1766: Thomas Tindal
1766–1783: Philip Champion de Crespigny
1783–1804: James Heseltine
1804–1815: Charles Bishop
1815–1844: Iltid Nicholl
1845–1876: Francis Hart Dyk
Treasury Solicitor
Historically, there were two solicitors in the Treasury. The first (The Solicitor for Negotiating and Looking after the Affairs of the Treasury), 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.
By 1661: John Rushworth
By 1673: Sir William Turner
1676–1679: John Ramsey
1679–1685: Thomas Lloyd
1685–1689: Philip Burton
1689–1696: Aaron Smith
1696–1716: Henry Baker
1716–1728: Philip Horneck
1728–1729: Edward Roome
1729–1737: Charles Valence Jones
1737–1744: Charlton Hayward
1744–1800: Hugh Valence Jones
1696–1700: Nicholas Baker
Procurators General and Treasury Solicitor
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:
1876–1894: Sir Augustus Keppel Stephenson, KCB
1894–1909: Hamilton Cuffe, 5th Earl of Desart
1909–1923: Sir John Mellor, 1st Baronet
1923–1926: Hon. Alfred Clive Lawrence
1926–1933: Sir Maurice Gwyer
1934–1953: Sir Thomas James Barnes
1953–1964: Sir Harold Simcox Kent
1964–1971: Sir William Arthur Harvey Druitt
1971–1975: Sir Henry Gabriel Ware
1975–1980: Sir Basil Brodribb Hall
1980–1984: Sir Michael James Kerry
1984–1988: Sir John Bilsland Bailey
1988–1992: Sir James Nursaw
1992–1995: Sir Gerald Albery Hosker
1995–1996: Michael Lawrence Saunders
1997–2000: Sir Anthony Hilgrove Hammond
2000–2006: Dame Juliet Wheldon