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.

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 McGibbonname="McGibbon appointment" 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:J. C. Sainty, "King's Proctor, 1660–1876" (Institute of Historical Research, February 2003). Retrieved 31 October 2018.

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 HeseltineThe London Gazette, 17 May 1783 (issue 12441), p. 1."HM Procurator General: Report Books, Series I", The National Archives. Retrieved 31 October 2018. 1804–1815: Charles BishopThe London Gazette, 24 July 1804 (issue 15722), p. 900.The London Gazette, 28 November 1815 (issue 17085), p. 2377. 1815–1844: Iltid NichollThe London Gazette, 28 January 1845 (issue 20436), p. 247. 1845–1876: Francis Hart DykThe London Gazette, 4 August 1876 (issue 24351), p. 4374.

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."Solicitors and Assistant-Solicitors, 1660–1870", in J. C. Sainty, Office-Holders in Modern Britain, vol. 1 (University of London, 1972), pp. 97–98. The following were Treasury Solicitors after 1660.

Treasury Solicitor (I; a sinecure by 1744 and abolished in 1800)

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 BakerAccording to another source, he was appointed jointly with one "Mr. East" (The Nineteenth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1856) p. 14), but Sainty says that this appointment, along with the proposed appointment of one Mr. Collyer in 1711, "never became effective" (Sainty, Office-Holders of Modern Britain, i, 97–98, fn. 18. 1716–1728: Philip Horneck 1728–1729: Edward Roome 1729–1737: Charles Valence Jones 1737–1744: Charlton Hayward 1744–1800: Hugh Valence Jones

Treasury Solicitor (II; from 1696)

1696–1700: Nicholas Baker 1700–1715: William Borrett 1715–1730: Anthony Cracherode 1730–1742: Nicholas Paxton 1742–1756: John Sharpe 1756–1765: Philip Carteret Webb 1765–1775: Thomas Nuthall 1775–1794: William Chamberlayne 1794–1806: Joseph White 1806–1818: Henry Charles Litchfield 1818–1851: George Maule 1851–1866: Henry Revell Reynolds 1866–1871: John GreenwoodJ. Venn and J. A. Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses, vol. 2, part 2 (Cambridge University Press, 1947) pp. 138–139. 1871–1875: John GrayThe Solicitors' Journal and Reporter, vol. 15 (1871), p. 386. 1875–1894: Augustus Keppel StephensonWendie Ellen Schneider, Engines of Truth: Producing Veracity in the Victorian Courtroom (Yale University Press, 2015), pp. 157–158.

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."‘Watchdog’ on divorces to retire", The Daily Telegraph, 24 June 1971, p. 2. The following have been jointly HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor:Roger Mortimore and Andrew Blick (eds.), Butler's British Political Facts (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), p. 533. 1876–1894: Sir Augustus Keppel Stephenson, KCBLondon Gazette, 26 October 1894 (issue 26564), p. 6005. 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 2006–2014: Sir Paul Christopher Jenkins 2014–2020: Sir Jonathan Guy Jones 2021–present: Dame Susanna McGibbon

See also Departments of the United Kingdom Government Treasury Devil

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External links

Government Legal Department Bona Vacantia