The circuit solicitor of the seventh judicial circuit may appoint a competent attorney, who is a resident of Spartanburg County, as assistant solicitor. He shall perform any and all of the duties and functions now or hereafter imposed by law upon the circuit solicitor in Spartanburg County, as the solicitor of the circuit shall authorize, designate and direct. The assistant solicitor shall be appointed by the solicitor of the seventh judicial circuit and shall after appointment be commissioned by the Governor; provided, however, the solicitor of the seventh judicial circuit shall have the right to remove the assistant solicitor from office at his pleasure, and in no event can the assistant solicitor be appointed for a period beyond the term of office of the circuit solicitor. The assistant solicitor shall receive from Spartanburg County as compensation for his services such sum per year as may be provided by the General Assembly, payable the first and fifteenth of each month, and eight hundred dollars per year for travel.

The assistant solicitor shall appear and represent the State in magistrates’ courts when requested by the sheriff’s department or the highway patrol located in Spartanburg County. He shall further prosecute appeals from magistrates’ courts in that county.