Headquarters Legal Advisory is based at Army Headquarters in Andover. Its lawyers advise the chain of command on all aspects of military and administrative law. There are legal branches in every major Army Headquarters in the UK and in the British Army and NATO Headquarters around the world.
Lawyers assist the chain of command with all legal aspects of their work. They also conduct training in military law and prepare military law publications to support the chain of command.
The Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA) is a tri-service organisation that has its Headquarters and UK elements based at RAF Northolt in London and an office in Germany.
Officers of the SPA are responsible for the consideration of referred cases from the Chain of Command or Service Police and where appropriate the prosecution of those cases at Court Martial. Officers of the SPA also prosecute cases at Service Civilian Courts, act as respondent at the Summary Appeals Court and represent the Crown at the Court Martial Appeals Court.
Whilst Officers of the SPA mainly prosecute cases in the UK and Germany, opportunities exist to prosecute at Courts Martial wherever Her Majesty’s Armed Forces are stationed.
Headquarters Operational Law is based at Army Headquarters in Andover. Its lawyers regularly deploy around the world; to operational theatres, as part of training teams delivering Law of Armed Conflict and Human Rights training to other armed forces and on exchange postings with the US and Australian Armies. They also train units and individuals in operational law (both at home and on operations abroad) prior to all operational deployments and throughout their careers.
They undertake duties in intelligence related posts, assist with the development of future doctrine, and regularly support training exercises in the field and in the classroom.
Army commanders at every level have access to legal advice from ALS officers and demand for this support is increasing.
Major General Richard Allen
Richard Allen read law at the University of Birmingham and took Law Society Finals at the College of Law in York, being admitted as a solicitor in 1995. He practised for three years with the Crown Prosecution Service in West Mercia.
He was commissioned into the Army Legal Services in 1998 and served on infantry attachment with the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment in Northern Ireland. He then moved to the Army Prosecuting Authority in Germany, gaining his Higher Rights of Audience in the Criminal Courts in 2002. After a tour at the Directorate of Army Legal Services, he was deployed to Kosovo, advising on international operations and sitting on the NATO Claims Tribunal in Macedonia.
Subsequent service at the Operational Law Branch in Warminster was followed in 2005 by a tour in Iraq, working with the judiciary at the Central Criminal Court in Baghdad and on operations in Basra.
After completing the Intermediate Command and Staff Course (Land), he joined the staff of the 6th Division, deploying with them on operations in Kandahar, Afghanistan before returning to Germany as Commander Legal, Headquarters 1st (UK) Armoured Division.
A later tour at the Permanent Joint Headquarters involved further time in Afghanistan, the Falkland Islands and the Middle East before moving to the Ministry of Defence. As Colonel, he worked in Army Headquarters and then as a Managing Prosecutor at the Service Prosecuting Authority. He promoted to Brigadier in 2020 on appointment as Head Legal Advisory and assumed the role of Head Operational Law in 2023 before assuming his current role in 2024.
Many of the functions of the ALS were once carried out by the Judge Advocate General (JAG), whose own origins can be traced back to Medieval times.
It was however the seventeenth century when the 'Marshal's Court' became the 'court martial' and the 'Advocate of the Army' first took responsibility for one of the main functions of ALS today, namely preparing the case for the prosecution of soldiers under Military Law.
The First World War saw an increase in legal work resulting from mobilisation.
This prompted the Judge Advocate General (JAG) to appoint deputies at various force headquarters with responsibility for reviewing the courts-martial proceedings and supervising other officers involved in the legal process. The fact that so many aspects of the courts martial process were in the hands of one person, the JAG, did not go unnoticed.
As with the First World War, mobilisation provided a great deal of work for the Office. Members of the department were based in Headquarters throughout the UK. The prospect of large numbers of War Crimes trials prompted the establishment of a separate department dedicated to giving advice on investigations and prosecuting at such trials.
The Directorate of Army Legal Services (DALS) was formed on 1 October 1948. The DALS consisted of a Brigadier, three Colonels, eight Lieutenant Colonels and eight other Officers. Those Officers who were commissioned into the JAG's office, but who elected not to transfer to the DALS, relinquished their commissions.
On 1 November 1978, the Officers of the Army Legal Services (ALS) Staff List were transferred by Royal warrant to the new Army Legal Corps. The following years were a busy time for the new Corps with the Falklands Conflict and the Gulf War which saw a substantial number of ALS Officers deployed to Saudi Arabia.
In 1992 the Army Legal Corps was subsumed into the Adjutant General's Corps as the Army Legal Services Branch. On 1st October 2018 the Army Legal Services branch celebrated its 70th Anniversary.
Since 1992 Army Legal Services officers have served operationally all over the world, including Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Law Society Gazette Feature
‘I would not go on any operation without a lawyer by my side.' On the front line with Army Legal Services.
Military Mettle
The numbers below for the Lead Recruiters are for recruiting information only.
AGC Corps Headquarters
Telephone
03001533486
Address
AGC Corps Headquarters, Worthy Down Camp, Worthy Down, Winchester, SO21 2RG