The bid to become mayor may be taking up pages and pages of newsprint, but behind the scenes, the transitional legal team at the Greater London Authority (GLA) is quietly making its own mark.Heading up the team is Murziline Parchment, who is head of legal and procedure in the transition team.

She was appointed in July from City firm Denton Hall, and has also been responsible for recruiting the two other members of the legal team, Keith Minear and Jan Boud.Although there is nothing in the Greater London Authority Act about the legal team per se, it is an essential part of the infrastructure of a public body.Ms Parchment explains that her job description is head of legal and procedure and includes recruiting and managing the work of the transitional legal team, as well as preparing for the permanent team.

Keith Minear provides general support and Jan Boud assists in the transfer of existing bodies into the GLA.As to any comparisons with its erstwhile predecessor, she points out that: 'The GLA is very different to that of the Greater London Council primarily because the GLA will be run by a directly elected mayor and also, the mayor has strong strategic powers.

The GLA legal team therefore serves a very different body which has different concerns.'She goes on: 'The main issue the legal transitional team is facing is providing enough legal groundwork for the GLA to make it viable once the mayor and assembly members are elected in May, without pre-empting choices they wish to make on how the GLA will operate.

The GLA legal team will work with the mayor and assembly reflecting their relationships with London boroughs which the GLA Act envisages will be co-operative.

'As to how Ms Parchment got this role, she says of the secondment: 'The advertisement for the job as head of legal and procedure appeared in one of the broadsheets, and it was the head of the planning and public law department at Denton Hall, Stephen Ashworth, who thought that it would be a good opportunity for someone from the department to be seconded to the GLA.

So I applied because I thought it would be interesting - and it is.'She adds: 'The legal team advise on all the aspects of setting up the GLA and what it will entail; it's also about knowing what's in the GLA Act and tailoring the organisation accordingly.'Her day-to-day work involves looking at the different issues which arise while implementing the GLA Act.

The day that she spoke to the Gazette, she had been looking at the transfer of three bodies which will be absorbed into the GLA, the London Research Council, the London Planning Advisory Council and the London Ecology Unit.

She had also been looking at contracts in order that the building overlooking Tower Bridge which will house the mayor and the GLA will be up and running by the time the mayor is elected.

She says: 'That gives you a flavour of what is happening.

The work also involves lots of meeting with different parties; for example, part of the GLA will be in charge of the police and will also have powers in relation to transport, so there is consultation and liaising so that we know what both sides are up to.'A look at Ms Parchment's background shows her grounding for her current secondment.

She studied law at Southampton University and opted initially for a career as a barrister because 'advocacy attracted me'.

She was called to the Bar in 1989, and did her pupillage at the chambers of Michael Fitzgerald QC, at 2 Mitre Court Buildings, doing planning and public law because she was interested in how it impacted on people's lives.

She moved to City law firm Denton Hall in 1998 because it had a large planning department which concentrated on the work that she wanted to do, both contentious and non-contentious, and she adds, it has given her the career progression she was looking for.

As for this secondment, she comments: 'I expected it to be challenging and it has proved to be challenging.

The Act, in its own way is quite exciting, and this is a completely unique form of government.'As head of legal and procedure, she is also one of the five-member senior management team, and is responsible for recruiting the two other members of the legal team.

The two others in the team were recruited by Ms Parchment and the qualities she was looking for were 'obviously local government or public law experience, and they had to be able to learn very, very quickly, because there is no lead-in time - it all has to be done by 4 May 2000.

'Her first recruit was Keith Minear, who joined in August.

Mr Minear describes himself as a 'career loc al government lawyer '.

He studied law at Exeter University, and did his articles at mid-Devon District Council, and is on secondment from his job as assistant head of legal services at Croydon Council.

He says that he applied for the secondment as part of the regular job reviews in his current role, which includes identifying secondments which will develop careers.In his current role, Mr Minear says he was not sure what he expected, and did not have many preconceptions: 'The sheer scale of the Act is huge.

As a lawyer with a local authority background, it is interesting switching to work with central government, almost voyeuristic.

It's almost like going back to being a lawyer in the sense that, at Croydon Council, I am more involved in dealing with management of external legal services as well as advising councillors, and being a link there - in this role, there is much more extensive legal work and research, and it's all new and interesting.

It has been a very different role being involved in the implementation of the Act and translating that into an authority - and then I go back to that link role in July.

'The latest member of the team is Jan Boud, who joined at the end of October.

She graduated from Warwick University and is on secondment from Nottinghamshire County Council, and although she is relatively new to law, she sees working in the public sector and her current role as public law with a political dimension.

She says: 'I think that there should be "joined-up" government, and it's exciting working with a team from a range of backgrounds.

You have to be politically aware and up-to-date on constitutional and administrative law, and it has been interesting being in the House of Lords and the House of Commons attending the debates.

'The politics involved in the race for mayor may be controversial, but that is not part of the job of the transitional legal team.

Once the mayor is elected, the junior members of the permanent legal team will be appointed, and soon after that, the senior members, in time for the end of the secondments of the three members of the transitional team.As transitional head, Ms Parchment stresses that 'the transitional legal team has to do all its work by May 2000, when the mayor is elected.' She agrees with the two other team members when she comments that she will be happy to return to her firm after her year of secondment: 'It's like having a very interesting challenging case that you know will last exactly a year.'