Sir Thomas Stuart Legg (born 13 August 1935) is a British former senior

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

, who was

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior civil servant of a department or ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are the non-political civil ...

of the

Lord Chancellor's Department The Lord Chancellor's Department was a United Kingdom government department answerable to the Lord Chancellor with jurisdiction over England and Wales. Created in 1885 as the Lord Chancellor's Office with a small staff to assist the Lord Chancel ...

and Clerk of the Crown in Chancery,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

(1989–98).

Biography

Born in London in 1935, Legg was educated at Horace Mann School in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and Frensham Heights School in the UK. After

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

in the

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious warfare, amphibious light infantry and also one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighti ...

, under the military education system he read history and law at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...

Career

Legg was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1960, one of the 12 lawyers allocated to the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...

's Department from 1962. He worked in the department for his entire career, which when he retired was responsible for administration of the UK legal system, and its co-ordination with

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

law, had resulted in the Department of Constitutional Affairs employing 20,00 staff and a budget of £2 billion. In 1989 he became permanent secretary and Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, until 1998. A Master of the Bench of the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

since 1984, he was made an honorary

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

in 1990.

Inquiries

Since his retirement from the Civil Service in 1998, Legg has headed three key inquiries for the government. In 1998, then Cabinet Secretary

Sir Robin Butler Frederick Edward Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell, (born 3 January 1938) is a retired British civil servant, now sitting in the House of Lords as a crossbencher. Early life and family Butler was born in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, on ...

asked Legg and Sir Robin Ibbs to conduct an inquiry into allegations that British company Sandline International was trying to sell arms to the government in exile in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

, contravening an international embargo. In what became known as the " arms to Sierra Leone" affair, the inquiry cleared the

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of any underhand conspiracy with Sandline, prompting accusations of a

whitewash Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime (calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk calcium carbonate, (CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes used. ...

. In 2000 he carried out a parliamentary inquiry into the huge over-spend on Portcullis House, but his report was not published. As a member of the Audit Commission, and member of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

Audit Committee, in 2009, in the wake of the

United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal The United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal was a major political scandal that emerged in 2009, concerning expenses claims made by members of the British Parliament in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords over the previous ye ...

, Legg was appointed to chair an independent panel with a remit to examine all claims relating to the second homes allowance between 2004 and 2008.

Other positions held

Since retirement, Legg has held: the chairmanship of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust; served as chairman of the London Library; served as consultant to the law firm of

Clifford Chance Clifford Chance LLP is an international law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and a member of the " Magic Circle", a group of London-based multinational law firms. It ranks as one of top ten largest law firms in the world measured ...

. After being co-opted onto the council of

Brunel University Brunel University London is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It was founded in 1966 and named after the Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In Jun ...

in 1993, he was visitor from 2001 to 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legg, Thomas 1935 births Living people 20th-century Royal Marines personnel Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Civil servants from London British King's Counsel Horace Mann School alumni Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People associated with Brunel University London People educated at Frensham Heights School Permanent Secretaries to the Lord Chancellor's Office