The Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, with the approval of the Attorney General, shall be authorized, subject to the provisions of the state Merit System law, to appoint a legal counsel for the state Department of Agriculture and Industries. He shall be commissioned as an assistant attorney general and shall have the authority and duties of an assistant attorney general, but he shall devote his entire time to the business of the Department of Agriculture and Industries.
The compensation for the said legal counsel shall be paid out of funds appropriated to the state Department of Agriculture and Industries and in the same manner as the compensation of other employees is paid.
Ala. Code § 2-2-12 (1975)