Professional Support Legal Assistant

Overview

Are you looking for a role that develops your legal research skills and helps deliver high quality legal services for the people of Scotland? We are looking to recruit two Professional Support Legal Assistants (PSLAs) to join the Scottish Government Legal Directorate (SGLD) to undertake legal research and provide Knowledge Management (KM) support to solicitors.

SGLD delivers a full range of legal services to the Scottish Government and various public bodies. This includes instructing primary legislation, drafting secondary legislation, and advising Ministers and officials across a broad range of legal issues. It is a fast-paced and high-profile environment, often involving complex and sensitive legal matters.

PSLAs provide a vital service to solicitors across SGLD. They contribute to the delivery of timely, high-quality legal advice through research and KM activities. Research supports both legislative and advisory work, while KM activities help maintain and improve the Directorate’s knowledge resources, underpinning the delivery of its KM Strategy. While PSLAs work closely with solicitors to enhance the quality and efficiency of legal services, they do not provide legal advice or draft statutory instruments.

SGLD has a complement of four PSLAs (including these two posts). Each PSLA is assigned to two Divisions, providing shared support across both.

These vacancies will be assigned to the following Divisions:

• One post will support Rural Affairs Division (RA) and Marine, Planning and Natural Resources Division (MPNR).
• The other post will support Economy and Social Protections Division (ESP) and Transport, Commercial and Information Division (TCI).

PSLAs may be asked to support colleagues outside the Divisions to which they are primarily assigned.