In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enforcement, prosecutions or even responsibility for legal affairs generally. In practice, the extent to which the attorney general personally provides legal advice to the government varies between jurisdictions, and even between individual office-holders within the same jurisdiction, often depending on the level and nature of the office-holder's prior legal experience.
The Department of Justice is a department of the Government of Canada that represents the Canadian government in legal matters. The Department of Justice works to ensure that Canada's justice system is as fair, accessible and efficient as possible. The Department helps the federal government to develop policy and to draft and reform laws as needed. At the same time, it acts as the government's legal adviser, providing legal counsel and support, and representing the Government of Canada in court.
The Attorney-General of Australia is the First Law Officer of the Crown in right of the Commonwealth of Australia, chief law officer of the Commonwealth of Australia and a minister of state. The attorney-general is usually a member of the Federal Cabinet, but need not be. Under the Constitution, they are appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister, and serve at the Governor-General's pleasure. In practice, the attorney-general is a party politician and their tenure is determined by political factors. By convention, but not constitutional requirement, the attorney-general is a lawyer by training.
The Prime Minister of Mauritius is the head of government of Mauritius. He presides over the Cabinet of Ministers which advises the President of the Country and is collectively responsible to the National Assembly for any advice given and for all action done by or under the authority of any Minister in the execution of his office.
Dr. Hassan Saeed was Attorney General of the Maldives from 11 November 2003 to 5 August 2007. He ran as an independent candidate for the Presidency of the Maldives, and placed third of six candidates. Saeed was appointed as the Attorney-General by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom on 11 November 2003 at the age of 33. He is a scholar on Islam and wrote about liberal Islam in his book Freedom of Religion, Apostasy, and Islam published in 2004.
New Maldives began as a group of young ministers who supported the dictatorship of President Gayoom and claimed to be working to usher in liberal democracy to the Maldives. Its most public proponent is Ahmed Shaheed, supported by Hassan Saeed and Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, who were serving as Foreign Minister, Attorney-General and Justice Minister, respectively. The New Maldives was launched in December 2005 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and was initially used by the media as a pejorative term.
Muhammad Latif Khosa is a politician representing Pakistan People's Party who has been the Governor of Punjab from 2011 until 2013. He is a lawyer by profession, having been a senior advocate in the Supreme Court of Pakistan and is considered an authoritative legal and constitutional expert of the country. A former senator and a former Attorney General of Pakistan, Latif Khosa was appointed as the Governor of Punjab by the President of Pakistan after the murder of late-Governor Salman Taseer on 11 January 2011. He was appointed the attorney general on 19 August 2008. Khosa also remained Member Pakistan Bar Council for three terms 1990-2005 and served as Chairman of the Executive Committee (CEC) of Pakistan Bar Council. He co-authored an electoral fraud report with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto shortly before her assassination in December 2007. Khosa has been one of Late Banazir Bhutto's top aides.
Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed is a Maldivian diplomat, and was the Secretary-General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). She was the first woman to hold this post since the organization's inception in 1985. She was appointed Secretary-General at the Thirty-third Session of the SAARC Council of Ministers in February 2011, and assumed office in Kathmandu on 1 March 2011. She succeeded India's Sheel Kant Sharma, whose term ended in February.
The Cabinet of the Maldives is the most senior level of the executive branch of the Government of the Maldives. It is made up of the President, the Vice-President, Attorney General and the Ministers.
Joe Ghartey is a Ghanaian lawyer, academic and politician. He is a former Attorney-General of Ghana (2006-2009), Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament (2013-2017) and Railways and Development Minister (2017-2021). Joe Ghartey hails from Shama, in the Western Region of the Republic of Ghana.
Angellah Jasmine Mbelwa Kairuki is a Tanzanian politician belonging to the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi In her last cabinet appointment she was the Minister of State in the President's Office. She previously served as Minister of Mining and the Deputy Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlement as well as Constitutional and Legal Affairs. Prior to joining politics, she worked as a lawyer in both public and private sectors.
Edward Zammit Lewis is a Maltese politician within the Labour Party. He has been a member of the Maltese House of Representatives since 2013. Following the general elections held on 9 March 2013, won by the Labour Party, he was appointed to serve as Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth. In April 2014, he was appointed Minister for Tourism, a post which he occupied up until June 2017. This was followed by his appointment as Minister for European Affairs and Equality in July of 2019 till January of 2020, when he was appointed Minister for Justice, Governance and Equality.
The President of Iran is the second formal position after the Supreme leader. The president has the authority to introduce members of his cabinet to the Iranian Parliament for confirmation under the Constitution of Iran.
The Office of the President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar is a ministry-level body that serves the President of Myanmar. Since the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, the position has remained vacant.
The Ministry of Law and Human Rights is an Indonesian ministry that administers laws and human rights. It is responsible to the president, and is led by the Minister of Law and Human Rights, Yasonna Laoly, since 27 October 2014. The first minister was Soepomo.
Akbar Ayub Khan is a Pakistani politician who has served as Minister Local Government, Elections & Rural Development, in office since 18 September 2020 to 5 August 2021. He is a member of the Provincial assembly of KPK since 2014. He is also the grandson of the former President of Pakistan, Field Marshal Ayub Khan.
The Attorney General of the Gambia is a cabinet-level position in the Gambia responsible for providing legal advice to the Gambian government and appearing on its behalf in the courts of the land. In recent years, the post has been held in conjunction with that of Minister of Justice, who is the head of the Ministry of Justice and responsible for legal affairs. The current Attorney General is Dawda A. Jallow.
A political crisis in the Maldives intensified on after President Abdulla Yameen decided to disobey the Supreme Court order to release 9 political prisoners and reinstating 12 parliament members which will give the opposition control of the chamber and potentially paving the way for Yameen's impeachment.
Thilmeeza Hussain is a Maldivian civil servant and diplomat who has served as Permanent Representative of the Maldives to the United Nations and Ambassador of the Maldives to the United States and Canada since May 2019.
Nihal Naj Ali Al-Awlaqi is a Yemeni lawyer. She was the Yemeni Minister of Legal Affairs from 9 January 2016 to 17 December 2020. In 2016 she received the International Women of Courage Award.
