Government Legal Profession

The Government Legal Profession (GLP) is the umbrella for most lawyers employed in UK government departments. Most work for the Government Legal Department (GLD), which provides legal services to most departments, while some bodies such as HMRC keep their own legal teams. You can join as a qualified solicitor or barrister through direct vacancies, or as a trainee through the GLP Legal Trainee Scheme, which funds and supervises your training contract or pupillage. Entry to the scheme is competitive and runs on a yearly campaign.

What government lawyers do

Government lawyers advise ministers and officials on what the law allows, draft legislation and statutory instruments, run litigation for and against the government, and handle the legal side of contracts and employment. The main areas are:

• advisory work, attached to a policy team, explaining legal risk and options
• litigation, including judicial reviews, public inquiries and employment tribunal claims
• legislative drafting, turning policy into bills and regulations
• commercial and employment law for the department itself

The work can be high profile. A judicial review of a government decision or a bill going through Parliament may be in the news, and you will work to deadlines set by courts and parliamentary timetables. Most work is in offices, with hybrid working common. GLD’s largest office is in London, with others including Leeds and Bristol.

The Legal Trainee Scheme

The trainee scheme recruits people who want to qualify as solicitors or barristers in government.

Trainee solicitors complete a period of qualifying work experience in GLD or a participating department, rotating between areas such as advisory and litigation teams. Pupil barristers complete pupillage, usually with part of it spent in chambers, which gives them advocacy experience before they return to a department.

The scheme has historically paid course and examination fees, and in some years a maintenance grant, for trainees who have not yet completed the professional stage. Each campaign sets the exact package, including support for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination. Check the current details before relying on funding, because it affects whether you can afford to take up an offer.

Eligibility and selection

You need to meet the academic requirements set in the campaign, which usually include a degree and, for non-law graduates, a plan for completing a conversion course. Civil Service nationality rules apply: UK nationals, including dual nationals, can apply for any post, and about 75% of posts are also open to Commonwealth citizens and EEA nationals. Reserved posts are open to UK nationals only.

Selection has several stages. A typical campaign uses:

1. An online application.
2. Online tests, including a situational judgement test and a verbal or critical reasoning test.
3. A written exercise.
4. An assessment centre or final interview, often with an oral advocacy or case study element.

Situational judgement tests explains how those questions are scored. Success Profiles is the Civil Service framework behind the assessment, with five elements: Behaviours, Strengths, Ability, Experience and Technical. Expect behaviour examples based on Making Effective Decisions and Communicating and Influencing.

Campaigns usually open once a year, and the scheme recruits well ahead of the start of the training contract or pupillage, often more than a year in advance. Watch for the opening date if you are planning that far ahead.

Joining as a qualified lawyer

Qualified solicitors, barristers and chartered legal executives can apply to vacancies in GLD and other departments on Civil Service Jobs. Lawyers are recruited at several grades, from junior lawyer posts up to senior and Grade 6 roles, and adverts specify any required post-qualification experience and practice area. Private practice experience transfers well to litigation and commercial teams, and many lawyers move into government mid-career. Applications for qualified posts lean on the Experience and Technical elements of Success Profiles, so expect to describe matters you have handled and to answer legal questions at interview.

Pay and pension

Pay for government lawyers is set by department and grade, and GLD has its own legal pay structure. Adverts show the salary range. The specific figures are not in the sources we have checked, so we have not quoted them. For 2026/27 the Civil Service pay remit guidance set a maximum headline increase of 3.5% across each department’s paybill, and that figure does not confirm what an individual receives. The take-home pay calculator converts an advertised salary into monthly take-home pay.

Government lawyers join the Civil Service pension scheme, alpha. Member contributions in 2026/27 are 4.6% on pay up to £36,199, 5.45% from £36,200 to £56,000, 7.35% from £56,001 to £150,000 and 8.05% above £150,000. Civil Service pension (alpha) explains how benefits build up.

Scotland, Northern Ireland and other legal jobs

The GLP covers UK government departments. The Scottish Government has its own legal directorate, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service prosecutes in Scotland, and the Northern Ireland Civil Service has its own Departmental Solicitor’s Office. Each recruits separately. In England and Wales, the Crown Prosecution Service and HM Courts and Tribunals Service also employ lawyers; court work is covered in legal adviser in the magistrates’ court.