Elisabeth Velina Jones [1] is a Welsh lawyer who served as the Counsel General-designate for Wales from 7 August 2024 to 11 September 2024 [2] and has also served as legal adviser to the Senedd. [3] [4]
Elisabeth Velina Jones [1] is a Welsh lawyer who served as the Counsel General-designate for Wales from 7 August 2024 to 11 September 2024 [2] and has also served as legal adviser to the Senedd. [3] [4]
Jones was born in Mountain Ash. [5] She attended Mountain Ash Comprehensive School. [6] Jones studied French and German at Somerville College, Oxford, and studied for an LLM at the University of Bristol. [5]
Jones initially worked in commercial and employment law in the City of London at the firm Theodore Goddard and at Bristol at the firm Osborne Clarke and Lyons Davidson. [7] She also worked giving free legal advice at the Gloucester Law Centre. [6] She later worked at the European Court of Human Rights. [6]
In 2012, she was appointed Chief Legal Advisor to the National Assembly for Wales. She served in this role until 2019. [8]
In 2024, she was appointed as Counsel General-designate in the Eluned Morgan government on "an interim basis". [8] She replaced Vaughan Gething, who had appointed himself to the role after Mick Antoniw resigned from the cabinet. [9] She had specific statutory functions in that role, including in relation to Senedd Cymru Bills. [1] However, as she was not an elected Minister, any ministerial powers associated with the role had to be executed by a sitting minister. [1] The Law Society responded to her appointment by calling for a return to a political appointee in the role, saying that the lack of an elected Senedd member in the role presents a risk of loss of political focus around justice in Wales. [10] [11] She is now currently a member of the Legal Wales Executive Committee. [7]
Jones has one daughter named Seren. [6]