Paul Scullion

Biography

Paul Scullion started as Head of the Public Finance and General Team in Treasury Legal Advisers in February 2024. He is undertaking the role as part of a job share.

Career

Paul was Legal Secretary to the Advocate General from January 2021 until January 2024. He was responsible for supporting the Advocate General in his various roles, including in his capacity as one of the UK Government’s Law Officers, as a UK Government Minister, and as the UK Government’s representative in the House of Lords. He also led a legal team in the Legal Secretariat to the Advocate General, led the Advocate General’s Private Office team, and undertook responsibilities as a member of the Office of the Advocate General’s Senior Leadership Team.

Prior to that Paul worked as a legal adviser at the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) from 2010 to 2021, during which time he represented the United Kingdom at the United Nations in New York and Geneva and the European Union in Brussels. Before joining the Diplomatic Service, Paul worked in the Treasury Solicitor’s Department (now the Government Legal Department) and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. Paul also worked as a legal adviser on international law issues for international organisations in Paris and Brussels and, before that, in private practice in London and Birmingham where he was engaged on venture capital and private equity investments. Paul undertook his legal training in Edinburgh.

Paul acts as a part-time judge and undertakes voluntary work as an Associate Hospital Manager reviewing detentions under the Mental Health Act 1983.

Education

Paul has an LL.M in Public International Law with distinction from University College London. He was admitted as a solicitor in Scotland in 2000 and as a notary public in 2001. Thereafter, Paul was admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales in 2002 and Ireland in 2008. Paul has an LL.B (Hons) from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, which included an Erasmus year studying international law at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, a Diploma in Legal Practice from the Glasgow Graduate School of Law, a QLTT from the College of Law in London, and a PGCert in Management and Leadership from Coventry University.

Articles published

The Pain of Migraine - Civil Service Blog

The pain of migraines: one civil servant shares their experience - Civil Service World

The Public Finance and General Team

The Public Finance and General Team provides legal advice across broad areas of HM Treasury’s work, including public spending, subsidy controls, market stability, sale of public sector assets, the covid inquiry, and public sector pensions.