Government legal service compared to training contract pupillage

The first similarity is that Government Legal Service (GLS) lawyers advise their client on its legal obligations under existing legislation, i.e. the Human Rights Act. Where necessary, they represent it in court.

Where they represent it in court they’ll take instructions from our client, draft documents which set out the clients side of the case, prepare witness statements where necessary, work with the court and the solicitors working for the other side.

Like other law firms, the Government Legal Service (GLS) recruits graduates and qualified lawyers. It provides them all with the training required by the professional bodies and, once qualified, give them the opportunity to build their legal career.

Government Legal Service (GLS) lawyers have similar opportunities to develop and progress through the organisation.

Although government lawyers do advise all those senior government ministers you’ll have read about and seen on TV, they also provide advice and legal support to the senior policy makers and civil servants whose job it is to take government policy from the party manifesto and deliver it on the ground.

The other crucial difference relates to the legal advisory service the GLS provides to its ‘client’. In private practice, your client may come and seek your advice on a proposed commercial contract;  whether it is possible to build property on an area of land; what the legal implications might be of, say, making  a number of employees redundant; or how to appeal against a judicial sentence. Government Legal Service (GLS) lawyers provide their client with similar advice on what are often similar problems to those faced by clients in the private sector.

The huge difference comes when the Government decides it needs new legislation in order to do something (or perhaps, not do something). Government Legal Service (GLS) lawyers will be part of the teams whose role it is to turn policy into law and ensure that the new law works in accordance with existing legislation.

Perhaps the biggest example of this in recent times is the introduction of the Human Rights legislation in this country. So, you could say that Government lawyers don’t just interpret existing laws. They also help to create new laws. Quite simply, you won’t get the opportunity be involved in that type of legal work in any other organisation.

Unlike many other legal organisations, the Government Legal Service (GLS) does not require its lawyers to focus on and specialise in a particular area of law for the entirety of their career.

Forr those who are unsure of which of the many areas of law they wish to practice in, or who simply want variety and new challenges, the Government Legal Service (GLS) offers opportunities to work in a range of different legal teams, departments and areas of law during their career.

James Murphy

Government Legal Service Secretariat

www.gls.gov.uk/

29-07-2010