The corridors of power in London and Wales were filled with uproar last month when Alun Michael, the Welsh First Secretary, resigned moments before a motion of no confidence was put.

But despite these problems at the top, the Welsh Assembly has not been deflected from establishing its presence through a punishing schedule of new legislation.

The assembly's exercise of power within statutory limits and the plethora of legislation are all the responsibility of a fledging legal team based in Cardiff.In the eight months since power was vested with the assembly, 73 pieces of subordinate legislation have been passed, 15 since the start of this year.

While individual directorates decide on policy, the legal team drafts, translates and amends the legislation.

It also ensures compliance with a range of issues such as the European Convention on Human Rights, by which the assembly is already bound, and ensures that the Welsh perspective is fully addressed in Whitehall legislation.Once it started, devolution of Wales came quickly.

The government's white paper, published in 1997, was endorsed by the people of Wales in a referendum the same year.

Just two years later, the Government of Wales Act 1998 came into force.

In July 1999, power moved from the Secretary of State for Wales to the assembly and work in earnest got under way.Since then, the Welsh Assembly has had control of a budget of slightly more than £8 billion and the power to pass secondary legislation in matters ranging from agriculture, environment, health, education and training, to economic development, housing, local government, planning and industry.Winston Roddick QC, the assembly's counsel general and head of the legal team, says the speed with which legislation is being passed is 'challenging' both for the assembly and for its lawyers.

However, the challenges facing the assembly and its legal advisers are not just restricted to the turnover of work.The assembly is constitutionally unique, so there are no precedents for its lawyers to work from.

Unlike England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, there is no constitutional distinction between the assembly's executive and legislative functions.

Designed in this way to promote a less party-political approach, it means the legal team faces questions on a more-or-less daily basis on how far the assembly can go in the exercise of its power.As counsel general, the legal buck stops with Winston Roddick.

It is his responsibility to advise on all law relating to policy and the legality of the assembly's legislation and acts.

Having been created by statute, the doctrine of ultra vires is of 'considerable importance', he says.To help him discharge his function, Mr Roddick has a team of more than 50 staff made up of 33 solicitors and ba rristers, as well as translators, administrators, secretaries and a librarian.

Among this number is Grace Martins-Waring, the first local government lawyer to chair the Trainee Solicitors Group.Mr Roddick also has a budget of a little more than £2.2 million.

He admits bidding for his first budget was a departure.

With no previous experience of such things, he says he approached his first budget bid with the same preparation he would put into a court case, although he says he stopped short of wearing the wig.Last month, Eversheds was appointed as sole external legal adviser to the assembly.

The firm's Cardiff office will service the three-year contract to provide the assembly with information ranging from employment, equal opportunities, health and safety to property, commercial and litigation.

Under a separate contract, Eversheds will also provide pensions-related advice to the trustees of the Assembly Members' Pension Fund.Born in Caernarfon, Mr Roddick was called to the Bar in 1968 and practised as a junior in Cardiff.

He moved his practice to London when he took silk in 1986 where he concentrated on planning advice, local authority and public law and corporate fraud.

Throughout his time practising in London, his home remained in Wales -- together with his heart, it would appear.Although once named by a national newspaper as a 'fat cat' barrister, there was obviously more to Mr Roddick's move than money -- he is now reported to earn around £112,000.

While he admits it was never a job to take on 'lightly', he says he was drawn to apply partly by a sense of duty and partly because of the challenge.When the time came to expand the team last year to deal with the increasing workload, Mr Roddick says he was looking to draw on experience from private practice and local government with an emphasis on public and European law.

One recent recruit was Elisabeth Jones, a human rights specialist who worked at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.A graduate in languages from Oxford, Ms Jones -- one of the legal drafting team -- is already a fluent French, German and Spanish speaker and is now working on Welsh.

After converting to law, she undertook a masters in European Community and human rights law before leaving for Strasbourg.

Although happy with her life and job there, she says she shared Mr Roddick's 'perhaps unfashionable feeling of duty' when she applied for the post.

'A number of us may not be earning what we were before, but the satisfaction of performing a public service, in Wales, in my home, outweighs that for me,' she admits.The Welsh language issue is key to the assembly and to the legal team.

It was decided early on that all legislation would be produced in both languages, which is an additional hurdle for the team when drafting to tight deadlines.

Although the majority of legislation is drafted first in English and then translated, Ms Jones says it is the team's aim to draft bilingually.

The lawyers are already developing a register of bilingual legal terms which is a step towards that, she says.The legislative output from the assembly is already having an effect on Wales and changing its social, economic and political landscape.

A small example of change west of the border is that eye tests are now free.

A bigger change may be seen if Wales goes its own way on genetically-modified foods, which is currently under debate.How the changes will affect lawyers outside the walls of the assembly remains to be seen but many believe that divergence from England can only increase as the assembly finds its fe et and gathers strength.Huw Williams, a partner and head of public law at Cardiff-based firm Edwards Geldard, says the situation in Wales at the moment mirrors the introduction of European law in England in the 1970s.

'At first there was a huge expectation of change, then that stopped, now it is having an enormous impact.' Wales will go the same way.

The assembly is already set on a 'divergent course' but at the moment it is only at the start of the process, he says.'Over a period of time, the assembly will look for more power and there are those who hanker after an ability to make primary legislation a political reality.

If Cardiff makes a good fist of running the present devolved assembly, there may be a prospect, based on that, to ask Westminster to loosen the leash,' Mr Williams speculates.He adds that solicitors and barristers have already realised that the assembly offers an opportunity which lawyers are prepared to seize.

Sophisticated clients doing business in Wales will want advisers with the benefit of local knowledge.

He points to the formation of the Wales Commercial Law Association and the Welsh Public Law and Human Rights Association over the last few months as indicators of how Welsh lawyers are gearing up to benefit from Welsh devolution.Emyr Lewis, chairman of the national assembly devolution group in the Cardiff office of Morgan Cole, is more cautious.

While the assembly has had the opportunity to follow a different policy track from Whitehall, there has not been much evidence of it yet, he says.However, he does expect to see greater differences emerge in future.

He says the main areas where this will happen will be in planning and environmental issues.

'No one will be able to give advice to a business regulated in any way by secondary legislation without having a working knowledge of it,' he says.Winston Roddick, although passionate about Wales and the work being done, is not blind to the fragility of the assembly in its early days.

He says: 'It stands to reason that an infant body will trip from time to time and stumble as it gains experience.

It is necessary for everyone involved to realise that and regard its development with tolerance.'