Susanna McGibbon, the government’s most senior lawyer, is set to leave the civil service in the next few months.
McGibbon, who has been Treasury solicitor and Government Legal Department permanent secretary for the last five years, has said she will depart in the spring after helping to find her replacement.
Announcing her upcoming departure on LinkedIn, McGibbon said she had “decided to step down and explore pastures new”.
“I’ll leave in the Spring after supporting the process to identify my successor (on which more to follow shortly) and look forward to catching up with many of you before then,” McGibbon said.
McGibbon, who is also head of the government legal profession, said: “It is a huge privilege to be Treasury solicitor and to lead a brilliant department delivering the highest quality legal advice on critical decisions affecting our country.
“I’ve been blessed to work with many wonderful colleagues and although I shall miss them, I am looking forward to the next chapter of my career outside the civil service.”
McGibbon has spent 33 years in the civil service in a range of roles within the government legal profession.
Before replacing Jonathan Jones as Treasury solicitor and GLD perm sec in March 2021, she was a director general at the GLD and also DG of the legal group at the Department for Work and Pensions.
She was also previously director of litigation at GLD, a role in which she was responsible for conducting domestic litigation on behalf of most government departments.
McGibbon also served as legal director at the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Department for Trade and Industry and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.