Attorney General's Panel of Counsel

The Attorney General’s panels of Civil Counsel are administered by the Treasury Solicitor’s Department. A number of Chambers have written to us about the new standard contractual terms for the Bar that apply from 31 January. These replace the Terms of Work on which Barristers Offer their Services to Solicitors and the Withdrawal of Credit Scheme 1988. It is true to say that neither of these documents have impinged much if at all on panel work

The new standard contractual terms apply for the purposes of “the supply of legal services by barristers to authorised persons” but the Treasury Solicitor and the solicitors to other public departments are not in fact “authorised persons” for the purposes of section 18(1)(a) of the Legal Services Act 2007. They stand in a special category position essentially untouched by the Act

The relationship between the Treasury Solicitor (and other departments) with barristers will continue to be governed by the long standing arrangements relating to the Attorney General’s Panel of Counsel which have operated to everyone's apparent satisfaction over a long period. We do not think that there is in practice much practical difference between the two sets of arrangements although you may wish to note the provisions elsewhere on this site (under Practical information)about the electronic storage of Counsel’s Opinions.

Any queries, either specifically about the non applicability of the new standards terms or about any aspect of work under the panels, then please contact Mohammed Ahmed at TSol.