The Legal Department operates in extremely diverse fields, and include providing legal counsel to the Prime Minister’s Office and its departments, including: the Prime Minister’s Bureau; the Minister’s Bureaus in the Office; the Director General and Deputy Director General’s Bureaus; Prime Minister’s Advisers; Religious Affairs which were transferred to the Prime Minister’s Office; the Administrative Divisions; the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women; the State Archives; the Government Press Office; the Commission for Philanthropic Admissibility; the Government Advertising Bureau; Nativ; the National Security Council; and the Headquarters for the Fight Against Terror.

The Legal Department acts in coordination and cooperation with the security divisions subordinate to the Prime Minister.  In addition, the Legal Department provides advice on subjects connected to the activities of legally formed corporations which are subordinate to the Prime Minister, including the Yitzhak Rabin Center, the Menachem Begin Center and the Anti-Drugs Authority.

Following is a detailed list of the Legal Department’s fields of activity.

Legislation
The Legal Department is charged with composing Bills for matters under the purview of the Office, including the fields relating to the security divisions.  The role of the Department includes composing proposed legislation and distributing it for comments from government offices, presenting Bills to committees for legislation and ushering along the legislative process in the Knesset.  In this framework, the Department also prepares the required proposed legislation for the implementation of lateral processes promoted by the Prime Minister’s Office (such as – the proposed legislation for the dismantling of the Ministry of Religious Affairs).  The Legal Department prepares ongoing surveys of private governmental legislation from other offices, and assists in formulating a stand for the Office when required.

Government Resolutions – Ministerial Committees
The Legal Department assists in composing proposed Resolutions and examining proposed Resolutions transferred from Office divisions and/or other government offices.

Representatives of the Legal Department participate on a permanent basis in discussions of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, and, when necessary, in additional Ministerial Committees relating to Office activities (the Ministerial Committee on the Non-Jewish sector, the Ministerial Committee on the Economy and Society, the Ministerial Committee for the Restitution of Jewish Property, etc.).

The Legal Department undertakes the legal work involved in implementing lateral initiatives of the Prime Minister, such as: transferring areas of activity from office to office, transferring authority from minister to minister, structural changes in the Office, etc.

Follow-up on Petitions and Lawsuits
The Legal Department follows-up the handling of petitions to the Supreme Court and other lawsuits directly or indirectly related to the Prime Minister’s Office.  The aforementioned petitions include many petitions on security and political matters, as well as petitions relating to development plans, and other subjects determined in Government Resolutions.

The Legal Department, in the appropriate cases, initiates civil suits on behalf of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Administrative Divisions
Members of the Legal Department participate in Office committees – the Tenders Committee, Computerization Tenders (Automatic Data Processing) and Advisers; the Support Committee; the Surveys Committee; the Torts Committee; the Gifts Committee, etc.

The Legal Department edits the Office tenders and prepares telecommunications agreements with external suppliers.  The Office communications include continuous communications for the Administrative Divisions, the communications of the various professional departments in a range of areas and special projects.

The Legal Department assists in formulating and composing procedures in a variety of fields of administrative activity in the Office.

Religious Affairs
On January 1, 2004, the Ministry of Religious Affairs was dismantled.  In accordance with Government Resolution no. 900 of October 8, 2003, the wing of the Religious Councils in the Ministry of Religious Affairs was transferred to the purview of the Prime Minister’s Office, including the areas of burials, the Chief Rabbinate (as a Division’s Authority) and the Western Wall Heritage Fund.  The Office also coordinates the implementation of Government Resolutions regarding the dismantling of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and handles all issues arising from the dismantling of the Ministry, including preparing legislation, as specified above.

Appointments
In accordance with the Government Companies Law of 1975, appointments to Government Companies, to institutions of statutory corporations and additional legally appointed bodies require pre-examination by the Committee for Examining Appointments of the Government Companies Authority.

When dealing with Prime Ministerial appointments to statutory corporations or a body under its purview (such as: the Anti-Drugs Authority, the Menachem Begin Center, the Yitzchak Rabin Center), the Committee for Examining Appointments asks for the prior opinion of the Office Legal Department.

In addition, in accordance with instructions from the Attorney General, any appointment made by a Minister or by the Government which does not legally require examination by the Committee for Examining Appointments, or of any other examining committee, is pre-examined by the Legal Adviser of the relevant office.  The aforementioned pre-examination is carried out when appointments are made to legally defined positions and in other appointments, such as appointments to public committees.

Special Projects
The Legal Department participates in ministerial committees and inter-ministerial committees which deal with special projects.

Some of the special projects the Legal Department is involved with include:
- A Computer for Every Child
- The EMET Prize
- Dismantling the Jubilee Foundation
- Facilitating the connection between the Government of Israel and the Jewish Agency on a Zionist education project
- The Inter-Ministerial Committee to Examine Regulations of the Religious Communities (and their organizations)(the Druze Community) of 1995
- The Center for Academic Relationships with the Former Soviet Union Countries and the Baltic States

Laws which the Prime Minister is charged with implementing and/or is in charge of setting up regulations to implement them
- The Wire-Tapping Law of 1979
- The Archives Law of 1955
- The Law for the Regulation of Seizing Land in Times of Emergency of 1949
- The Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day Law of 1959
- The Independence Day Law 1949
- The Jerusalem Day Law 1998
- The Law Implementing the Peace Agreement Between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan of 1995
- The Commemoration of Israel’s Presidents and Prime Ministers Law 1986
- The Yitzchak Rabin Center Law of 1997
- The Menachem Begin Center Law of 1998
- The Anti-Drugs Authority Law 1988
- The Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women Law 1998
- The National Security Service Law 2002

Responsibilities for Religious Affairs
- The Chief Rabbinate of Israel Law of 1980
- The Law for Alternative Civil Burial of 1996
- The Law Prohibiting Fraud in Kashrut of 1983
- The Law for Rabbinical Housing in Their Places of Service of 2002
- The Jewish Religious Services Law [combined composition] of 1971
- The Law Preventing Teffilin and Mezuzah Fraud of 1974
- Responsibility for Religious Communities (and their organizations)
- Order in Council for the Land of Israel (sacred places) of 1924
- The Land Transactions Law (carrying out the mitzvah of the fallow year) of 1979
- Responsibility over kosher food for soldiers of 1948
- The Council for the Commemoration of the Jewish Legacy of Spain and the East of 2002

The Prime Minister is granted other authorities in the framework of other laws.