Working for TSol
Please note: the Treasury Solicitor’s Department became the Government Legal Department on 1 April 2015.
We are likely to be recruiting for a number of exciting roles for qualified lawyers in the coming weeks. There will be full and part time roles available across the broad range of our business. Register for an automatic email update when the advert has been published.
Why choose TSol?
Few areas of legal practice offer the variety and intellectual challenge of work here at TSol. In private practice, solicitors and barristers work for a range of clients. TSol lawyers work for just one client - the Government of the day - which requires advice and support on a huge range of domestic and European affairs.
The Government calls upon its lawyers to advise on any number of issues - complex, novel, politically sensitive and often in the public eye. TSol lawyers work not only with other lawyers but also as part of a wider team including policy makers and professionals from other specialist areas. They are involved in making the law as well as in interpreting it.
What we do
Parliamentary and Advisory work
Governments draw continuously upon the skills of their lawyers as they bring to life the policies pledged in their election manifestos. TSol lawyers are called upon to advise whether a policy can be implemented under existing legislation and, if so, how. If new, primary legislation is required, TSol lawyers play a key role in helping to draft the Bill and take it through Parliament. Where this is the case, TSol lawyers can expect to work closely with officials, Ministers and Parliamentary Counsel. They brief Ministers and support them in Parliamentary debates.
TSol lawyers also draft secondary legislation, (for example, regulations, Statutory Instruments, Orders in Council etc), much of which will impact upon the community as a whole. Working on primary and secondary legislation requires a logical approach and the ability to clarify complex ideas both orally and in writing.
In addition, our lawyers need to ensure that all the legal implications of a policy have been thought through, including any that relate to the EU. It is also their job to ensure that the law they are involved in drafting will withstand the scrutiny of both the Courts and Parliament. Our role in the development and implementation of new legislation is intellectually demanding - and unique. Creating legislation from scratch and being part of the process as it moves through Whitehall and the Houses of Parliament is an opportunity that cannot be provided elsewhere.
Litigation work
The Litigation Group provides litigation services to the majority of Government departments and public bodies, and its work often raises questions of constitutional importance. The Group is organised into three divisions which focus on different types of litigation work; Public Law; Private Law; and Public Inquiries. In 2012/13, the Group handled over 36,400 cases with its lawyers and trainees attending hearings in a wide range of courts, including Coroners’ Courts, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal, the Royal Courts of Justice and the Supreme Court.
Commercial
As the Government seeks to reduce the levels of public spending, the work of its commercial lawyers has never been more important. Whether they are undertaking large-scale complex public procurement or day-to-day transactional commercial matters, it is essential that Government departments obtain value from all their contracts. To enable them to do so, commercial lawyers in TSol provide legal advice on a wide range of matters, including public procurement law, contract law, intellectual property and state aid.
Commercial lawyers work closely with their clients (the procurement officers, contract managers, commercial directors and other in-house lawyers) to help them develop sound policies, devise robust commercial and procurement strategies and to construct resilient contractual arrangements with suppliers.
European
European Union law has a bearing on virtually every aspect of our work, and TSol lawyers are closely involved in changes and developments within the EU.
TSol involvement in EU law embraces almost every area - from negotiating EU measures in Brussels to drafting statutory instruments to implement EU directives, and from advising on the implications of EU law for domestic policy to preparing cases which go before the European Court of Justice.
Employment
TSol’s Employment Group, which embraces both advisory and litigation work, is now one of the largest employment law practices in the country. TSol’s Employment lawyers are required to act for Departments of State and public bodies in cases brought before the Employment Tribunal, the County Court, the Employment Appeal Tribunal and beyond.
We also advise on non-contentious matters, such as employment policies and practices and compliance with new legislation and they seek to provide their clients with training and information to help prevent employment problems in the future.
Bona Vacantia
Acting on behalf of the Crown, the Bona Vacantia Division of TSol identifies, collects and disposes of assets formally owned by dissolved companies; and assets formally owned by people who die without a valid Will and without blood relatives entitled to inherit their estates. This involves handling over 25,000 new cases and over £55 million of receipts each year. The income goes to our client, HM Treasury, to benefit the country as a whole. More information about Bona Vacantia can be found here
Corporate Resources Group (CRG)
CRG comprises teams including Business Support; Clients, Communications & Governance; Finance, Planning & Performance; and Human Resources. Our purpose is to provide a range of corporate services to TSol and increasingly now to the Attorney General’s Office and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI).
Joining TSol
There are 3 categories of positions that we typically recruit:
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qualified lawyers
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legal trainees
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administrative staff.
All vacancies are advertised on the Civil Service Job Search website
Benefits
Rewarding staff is key to attracting the right kind of people – and encouraging them to stay with us. We want to help staff have a high quality of life through working in a forward-thinking, fair and flexible environment that rewards good performance.
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The majority of staff joining TSol are eligible for the Civil Service pension arrangements, a generous defined-benefits scheme with employer contributions ranging from 16.7%-24.3% depending on salary. The full details of the different schemes including their benefits can be found here
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Former employees can find information about claiming their deferred pension benefits here.
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We offer a generous annual leave allowance of 25 days per year, and then 30 days after 5 years’ service. In addition we offer 9 days public and privilege days leave per year.
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TSol has traditionally rewarded its highest performing staff with a one-off non-consolidated award on an annual basis. Additionally, an in-year special bonus scheme is in place to recognise individual and team achievements.
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Interest free season-ticket loan and a periodic tax efficient ‘Cycle to Work’ Scheme
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CSMA (Civil Service Motoring Association) membership costs £19 a year. For this you’ll get special rates for house and car insurance, a monthly magazine, a breakdown service and discounts for new cars and other benefits, including holidays. Go to www.csma.co.uk to find out more.
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TSol offers a variety of flexible working patterns subject to business requirements which include working from home, compressed hours, part-time, flexi time and other alternative patterns, eg term-time working. In addition we have generous policies for maternity and paternity leave, parental leave, and special leave in the event of domestic emergencies.
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A comprehensive health and wellbeing service which includes a monthly private GP clinic for staff; an annual flu jab programme; workplace assessments and adjustments to ensure a safe and healthy workplace; a biennial health screen programme; a confidential Employee Assistance service; and reimbursement of eye-sight test fees.
Learning & Development in TSol
TSol is committed to supporting personal and career development, striving to provide access to relevant opportunities that suit the individual. We encourage regular development discussions to ensure that the individual receives the training that matters to them the most. We also operate a mentoring scheme and various career development programmes, including the opportunity to move around the organisation to build your skills and experience in different areas of law.
Both temporary and permanent members of staff have full access to our Continuing Professional Development-accredited, free in-house training programme. This is developed by TSol colleagues to provide both necessary and interesting training sessions and lectures, covering the full range of work carried out by the department. We also coordinate the Government Legal Service training programme, and work alongside Civil Service Learning to help our staff to make best use of their extensive catalogue.
TSol uses the civil service competency framework for performance management, recruitment and development. Competencies are the skills, knowledge and behaviours that lead to successful performance and help performance management by describing what is required of people to do their jobs.
Our staff say TSol is a great place to work
Each year TSol participates in the Civil Service-wide People Survey and this routinely confirms we are one of the highest scoring Departments in terms of the overall engagement index when compared to other areas of the Civil Service. Senior managers take great care to ensure staff engagement is given a high priority throughout the year.
Among the areas achieving the highest percent positive scores this year were:
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Interest in my work
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The skills to do my job effectively
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Trusted to carry out my job effectively
The results of the 2013 survey produced the following key conclusions:
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Employees are passionate about the work they do, they are interested and feel challenged
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Line management capability has improved along with performance management
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There are greater opportunities for learning and development
There is a greater focus on team working, trust and an increasingly innovative culture
Civil Service people survey
View the Treasury Solicitor’s Department’s results from the Civil Service people survey
Staff profiles
We encourage applicants to talk to current TSol employee so that they can learn, first hand, about what it is like to work here. Some of our staff share their experiences.
The future for TSol
The Treasury Solicitor’s Department currently provides legal advice to HM Treasury, the Cabinet Office, Department for Education, Department of Culture, Media and Sport, Home Office, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Ministry of Justice and Department of Communities and Local Government. In addition to legal advice, other legal services are provided to other government departments and public bodies.
As part of the Civil Service Reform agenda, we are working to bring together and provide services to even more central government departments, as part of one central government legal organisation. By October 2014, the bulk of central government’s core legal work will be delivered through the shared legal service provided by TSol. The expanded organisation will have over 1,700 employees, 1,300 of whom will be lawyers. Our aim is to provide the best possible legal services for clients and for government.