Some see it as a sign of how politically important an issue the law has become.

Others view it as empire-building by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine.

But for David Lock, an MP for just two years, being appointed as an additional parliamentary secretary at the Lord Chancellor's Department (LCD) is simply a great opportunity.

Before July, the LCD only ever had a single junior minister, but when Parliament reconvenes next month, Mr Lock will take his place on the front bench next to Keith Vaz, who was appointed as a parliamentary secretary himself just two months before.

Soon after the latest appointment, Lord Irvine announced the division of responsibilities between his ministers (see below), and while Mr Vaz received the lion's share of the heavyweight areas, responsibility for civil justice, family and human rights should ensure that Mr Lock has a full in-tray.

In his first interview since the appointment, Mr Lock says he is 'delighted' to have achieved promotion so quickly.

A 39 year-old barrister who practised from the chambers of Rex Tedd QC at 7 Fountain Court, he captured the Wyre Forest seat from the Conservatives at the 1997 election with the largest swing (14.4%) in the Midlands.

He was promoted to parliamentary private secretary to the Lord Chancellor in September 1998.

Mr Lock does not foresee any problems with the division of ministerial work at the LCD; far from it.

The appointment of a second minister 'is an indication of the increasing workload on the department', which he says stems from 'the high priority the government places on the ability of individual citizens to exercise their legal rights'.

He says the critical areas facing the depar tment at the moment are the future of legal aid, the implementation of the Access to Justice Act and the extension of the Community Legal Service pilot schemes -- areas for which Mr Vaz is mainly responsible (see below and opposite).

In one of his own lead areas, the civil justice reforms, Mr Lock says it is 'far too early to have any proper statistical feedback' on how successful the reforms have been.

However, the anecdotal evidence is 'substantially positive' and in the absence of a 'glut of litigation', it would appear that pre-action protocols and offers to settle are 'having an effect'.

Mr Lock says he is sure that the avoidance of major problems is in no small part due to the work of lawyers, who he is aware have 'invested a large amount of their own time and money in getting up to speed'.

This level of co-operation by practitioners is most likely to be called upon again.

Mr Lock says he is 'confident that [the government] will be looking again to extending the areas of fixed costs' once the reforms have bedded down.

'There is considerable merit in fixing costs because it gives clarity and confidence to consumers so they know what they will have to pay,' he says.

In the family law field, Mr Lock is unable to offer much to ease concerns expressed by family lawyers over Lord Irvine's decision in June 1999 to delay implementation of part II of the Family Law Act 1996.

The delay was due to what the Lord Chancellor called 'disappointing results' from research into compulsory information meetings to promote mediation to couples considering divorce.

Mr Lock says that any decision to take forward part II will have to wait until the new year, by which time the final results of research into information meetings will be available.

And on human rights, despite Mr Lock's insistence that the government is committed to empowering citizens to exercise their legal rights, he says there are no current plans to establish a human rights commission to oversee the implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998.

That job, he says, would be more appropriately left to individual bodies such as the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Commission for Racial Equality.

The establishment of a human rights commission is a situation, like many others, that the LCD will be keeping under review.

WHO DOES WHAT IN THE NEW-LOOK LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT (LCD): The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine will deal personally with: -- all judicial matters; -- the resourcing of the department and its programmes; -- constitutional issues; and -- all appointments matters.

According to the LCD: 'The Lord Chancellor will also take responsibility for all issues of major importance or sensitivity in any of the department's subject areas, with advice from the relevant minister'.

And despite the division of responsibilities, Lord Irvine said that both ministers would 'make a contribution to all major policy decisions'.

Keith Vaz MP, parliamentary secretary, is responsible for: -- legal aid and legal services; -- Community Legal Service; -- criminal policy; -- magistrates' courts; -- court service; -- international policy; -- public record office; -- Legal Aid Board; -- Legal Services Ombudsman; and -- statutory publications office.

David Lock MP, parliamentary secretary, is responsible for: -- family policy; -- civil justice; -- civil law development (including the Law Commission); -- human rights; -- administrative justice; -- Northern Ireland court service; -- Public Trust Office; -- Land Registry; -- devolution issu es; -- Official Solicitor's department; and -- council on tribunals.

Mr Lock will also have overall responsibility for IT issues, although Mr Vaz will retain responsibility of criminal IT issues.

Mr Vaz will take the lead on House of Commons business, but ministerial statements, adjournments debates, written parliamentary questions and ministers' cases will follow the policy lead set out above.

Oral parliamentary questions will be shared between the two parliamentary secretaries.