Two and a half dozen in-house lawyers have been recruited to a dedicated Whitehall team focused on the Brexit negotiations, The Times reports.

The Whitehall legal unit of 30 in-house lawyers has been set up in a bid to avoid outsourcing all of the legal work around Brexit to major law firms.

It will serve as a central hub with lawyers from all other Whitehall departments also set to pitch in.

However, the Institute for Government has suggested government lawyers may not have the right skills for testing the key negotiations.

In a report, the Institute said it was likely external lawyers or management consultants would also be drafted in.

According to The Times, insiders believe external lawyers and consultants will offer unpaid pro bono work on Brexit to the government in hopes of winning lucrative contracts further down the line.

Treasury solicitor Jonathan Jones, head of the Government Legal Service (GLS), has said: “The legal skills required to deliver Brexit, such as dealing with the necessary changes to UK legislation, and advising on EU and international law, are ones which we already have in the GLS and are supplementing through recruitment of additional lawyers.”