While I've basically always assumed stuff as we went along, there have always been a few glaring questions in my mind that either haven't been written out in the lore, occupations list, or addressed IC (at least from what I've read):

1. Who promotes who? I know the Minister appoints the heads of departments when the positions are vacated, but who appoints the lower positions? Heads of departments hire assistant heads, right? Does the Minister have the right to do that as well? What are the powers (or responsibilities) of the assistant heads?
   
   
2. Apparel-wise, what colors are the ministry robes? Are they all similar colors? Do certain positions have certain robe colors to denote status? I know we talked auror robes once, but I never figured out if all the normal departmental workers wore the same thing. This is just an awkward thing I've wanted to know but have just avoided IC :P
   
   
3. What do we assume the Ludicrous Patents Office does? Even HP Wiki doesn't seem to have much clue besides what the name might suggest. Do they deal with ... broomstick patents? Board game patents? Any kind of patent, whether sports/games or not?
   
   
4. Lawyers — are they prosecution or defense? Both? Do prospective lawyers have to learn both sides, or do they specialize in one?
   

  

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

I always assumed Ludicrous Patents handled all patents for new wizarding items, since we aren't offered any canon alternatives for non-ludicrous patents. Wizards are notoriously slow to pick up on technological/mechanical progress, so they might consider anything new to be "ludicrous" when wizards have clearly existed without it for hundreds of years.

Unlike a regular Muggle patent office, though, I assume they'd do a lot of liaising with the various departments to make sure a new magical product isn't going to screw with anything else before issuing a patent for it. Like they might need to run over to Misuse of Muggle Artifacts for the expert opinion on how likely it is that a telephone altered to allow seance communication with ghosts would fall into Muggle hands ("I mean, do people really use telephones or is this more of a passing fad, do you think?") or pop in to the DRCMC to ensure that this new device for collecting augury feathers wouldn't accidentally result in the extinction of the species, or anything.

My feeling re:lawyers (and what minimal poking around on Google I just did confirms this) is that defense lawyers were pretty much only a thing for the wealthy, and definitely wouldn't be provided by the state. I'm not even sure if they're much of a thing in modern wizard law (did Harry get a defense lawyer when he was on trial before the Wizengamot for underaged magic?) I've always thought that the Ministry lawyers were there to represent the Ministry, i.e. be the prosecutors in cases of national import or where specific Ministry regulations had been broken. I think in VE law most personal grievances (like "he stole my boot!") wouldn't have been handled by a government lawyer, but rather by the victim & defendant themselves or by whatever private solicitors they hired to represent them.

I have zero opinions on Ministry robe colors.

The following 1 user Likes Esther Browne's post:1 user Likes Esther Browne's post
   Bella Scrimgeour

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My interpretation:

1. Heads hire everyone below them. Some heads may ‘outsource’ recruitment to their AHes. Where you have a division etc., the head of that hires internally, however your boss or your boss’s boss can always put pressure on you to hire the way they want #nepotism
— In terms of who reports to who, I always imagined that the department heads liaise with the MoM and the public, while the AHes liaise downwards. Obviously this depends on the management style of the characters in question, though!

2. I headcanon that only certain groups (aurors, hit wizards) have uniforms, though WG members wear black robes when in court. Everyone else just wears their clothes.

3. Seconding Lynn.

4. You forget civil and contract law. Ministry lawyers represent the Ministry interest. If anyone wants a defence attorney, you pay out of pocket.

The following 1 user Likes Aldous Crouch's post:1 user Likes Aldous Crouch's post
   Benjamin Ross

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— Aldous walks with a cane and pronounced limp as the result of a splinching accident. —

— graphics by lady ❤ —