NSW Crown Solicitor's Office

The Crown Solicitor’s Office (CSO) became an Executive Agency from 24 February 2014. The CSO is an agency related to the Department of Justice. The Crown Solicitor provides legal services to the State Government of NSW and the other entities defined under s. 110 of the Legal Profession Act 2004. The current NSW Crown Solicitor is Lea Armstrong. She is the solicitor on the record for the purpose of legal proceedings. We are the largest provider of legal services to the NSW Government and its agencies and the sole provider of legal services in all matters which are regarded as being core to government functions. We also provide general commercial, or untied, services to the Government and its agencies and compete with private law firms for this work. We are on the legal panels of a wide spectrum of NSW government departments and agencies. We manage thousands of legal matters each year, many of which are long-running matters involving substantial litigation. We are highly effective at managing our clients' costs. Approximately 350 legal and support staff are employed by our Office which is divided into 11 legal Practice Groups. Our full service Practice Groups comprise: • Constitutional & Administrative Law • Child Protection • Commercial Law • Community Law • Property and Native Title Law • Criminal Law • Employment & Industrial Relations • Government Law • Inquiries • Torts (Justice/Enforcement Agencies) • Torts (Service/Regulatory Agencies)