Attorney General's Office (United Kingdom)


The Attorney General's Office is a United Kingdom government department that supports the Attorney General and their deputy, the Solicitor General. It is sometimes referred to as the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers.
The current Attorney-General is Suella Braverman MP, and the current Solicitor General is Michael Ellis QC MP.

Organisation

The AGO is one of the smallest UK government departments, with around 40 staff. It is one of "the Law Officers’ Departments" along with the Crown Prosecution Service and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, the Serious Fraud Office and the Government Legal Department. The Treasury Solicitor acts as Accounting Officer for the AGO.
The AGO provides legal advice and support to the Law Officers who themselves provide legal advice to the government, and works with the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office to develop criminal justice policy.

Ministers

The Law Officers in England and Wales are as follows:
MinisterRankPortfolio
Suella Braverman MPAttorney General
Advocate General for Northern Ireland		Chief legal adviser to the Crown; the Crown Prosecution Service; the Serious Fraud Office; Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate; the Government Legal Department
Other responsibilities include:
acting as principal legal adviser on questions of EU and international law, human rights and devolution issues; referring unduly lenient sentences to the Court of Appeal; bringing proceedings for contempt of court
intervening in certain proceedings to protect charities; dealing with questions of law arising on government Bills; legal aspects of all major international and domestic litigation involving the government.
Michael Ellis QC MPSolicitor Generaldeputising for the Attorney General and being responsible for such matters as the Attorney General delegates; providing support to the Attorney General in his superintendence of the Government Legal Department, the Crown Prosecution Service, the Service Prosecuting Authority, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and the Serious Fraud Office; providing support to the Attorney General on civil litigation and advice on civil law matters and on the public interest function.