ARMY LEGAL SERVICES- WHAT’S LEGAL LIFE LIKE IN THE

It is said that law pervades most areas of society in one way or another and this is no different for the Army. At its heart, the Army is a large organisation that is state funded, the operations of which engage a myriad of legal issues on a daily, indeed hourly, basis.

Tasked with the mission of providing legal advice to Army personnel in respect of its activity – whether that be employment and management of soldiers or conduct of military operations - is the Army Legal Services (ALS), a specialist allOfficer branch of the Army’s Adjutant General’s Corps (AGC).

The ALS is comprised of professionally qualified solicitors, barristers and Scottish advocates and runs recruitment cycles 3 times a year (January, May and September).

In this month’s in - house interview, we talk to several junior officers as to their lives and experiences within ALS.

1. Could you please describe the typical civilian professional background of ALS recruits?

There is none. A candidate need only meet citizenship/residence requirements and be qualified to practice in the UK to be eligible to apply. The recruitment process tests for potential, both in terms of suitability as an Army officer and the capacity to effectively apply soft skills and adapt to new areas of law. Consequently, there is a broad range of civilian experience amongst our cohort, from experienced criminal counsel to newly qualified corporate solicitors and everything in between.

2. Can you give us a sense of the purpose of the role of a lawyer within ALS? And what it may involve on any given day?

There are around 100 regular ALS Officers and 15 reservist ALS Officers between the ranks of Captain and Major General, based within various organisations within the Army structure and advising on a broad range of issues. All ALS officers will work across our core functional areas (or ‘3 pillars’), namely prosecutions, advisory and operational law. Officers are assigned to posts, generally speaking for two years at a time, and therefore have the opportunity to switch focus regularly and gain wide experience. Whatever the role, our raison d’etre is to provide first-class legal advice in support of the Army in barracks and on operations. This may be as part of a legal team or as the sole legal adviser to an organisation, working closely with other branches of the Armed Forces, international allies, partners across government and the security and intelligence services.

The ALS’ 3 pillars are broken down as follows:

a. Prosecutions

i. The Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA) is similar in function to the Crown Prosecution Service and is responsible for the prosecution of