Una Jagose KC is New Zealand's Solicitor-General and King's Counsel, appointed in February and June 2016 respectively. [1] [2]
Jagose was born and raised in Cambridge, New Zealand. Her parents were both medical professionals who had emigrated to New Zealand: her father was a Parsi doctor from India and her mother a nurse from Ireland. [3]
Jagose studied law at the University of Otago, followed by an LLM at Victoria University of Wellington, graduating with first class honours. [2]
She was admitted to the bar in 1990 and joined the Ministry of Consumer Affairs (now MBIE) before moving to the Ministry of Fisheries where she was appointed Chief Legal Advisor in 1999. Jagose joined the Crown Law Office in 2002 and was appointed Deputy Solicitor-General in 2012. She was appointed acting director of the Government Communications Security Bureau in 2015, then as the Solicitor-General in February 2016 and as a Queen's Counsel in June 2016. [2] [4]
In 2020, Jagose won the public policy category of the New Zealand Women of Influence Awards. [5]
In November 2024, Jagose apologised on behalf of Crown Law to the survivors of abuse in state care. [6] Many survivors had called upon Jagose to resign, alleging that in cases brought against the Crown by survivor claimants she was personally complicit in withholding evidence from the police, using aggressive and re-traumatising lines of questioning, and suggesting the use of psychological stress against claimants as a legal strategy. [7] [8] [9]
A King's Counsel is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarch is a woman, the title is Queen's Counsel (QC).
The Order of precedence in New Zealand is a guide to the relative seniority of constitutional office holders and certain others, to be followed, as appropriate at State and official functions. The previous order of precedence was revoked and Queen Elizabeth II approved the following Order of Precedence in New Zealand effective 20 September 2018:
Judith Anne Collins is a New Zealand politician who has served as the attorney-general and minister of defence since 27 November 2023. She served as the leader of the Opposition and leader of the New Zealand National Party from 14 July 2020 to 25 November 2021. Collins has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Papakura since 2008 and was MP for Clevedon from 2002 to 2008.
The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand (PCANZ) is a major Christian denomination in New Zealand. A part of the Reformed tradition, it is the largest Presbyterian denomination in New Zealand, and known for its relatively progressive stance on doctrine and social issues in comparison with smaller Presbyterian churches in the country. Presbyterianism was introduced to New Zealand by early 19th century settlers, particularly from Scotland and Ireland. It was historically most prevalent in the Otago region. The PCANZ was formed in 1901 with the amalgamation of southern and northern Presbyterian churches. It claims around 29,000 members.
Anne Smith, Lady Smith, is a Scottish lawyer, and a retired judge. Smith is currently the chair of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.
The Solicitor-General is the second law officer of state in New Zealand. The Solicitor-General is also the chief executive of the Crown Law Office, that comprises lawyers employed to represent the Attorney-General in court proceedings in New Zealand. The current Solicitor-General is Una Jagose.
The Attorney General's Department is a non-ministerial government department in Sri Lanka that supports the attorney general and his/her deputy the solicitor general. The department is headed by the attorney general and comes under the purview of the Ministry of Justice. The office of "Attorney General" was formally adopted in the year 1884.
Julie Anne Genter is an American-born New Zealand politician who is a member of the House of Representatives representing the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand. Genter was elected to each Parliament from 2011 to 2023 on the party lists, before being elected as the Member of Parliament for the Rongotai electorate in the 2023 election. She served as the Minister for Women, Associate Minister for Health and Associate Minister for Transport during the first term of the Sixth Labour Government. She holds dual citizenship of New Zealand and the United States.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in England and Wales was an inquiry examining how the country's institutions handled their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse. It was announced by the British Home Secretary, Theresa May, on 7 July 2014. It published its 19th and final report on 20 October 2022.
Marama Mere-Ana Davidson is a New Zealand politician who entered the New Zealand Parliament in 2015 as a list MP representing the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, of which she became the female co-leader in 2018.
Dame Lowell Patria Goddard, is a former New Zealand High Court judge, from 1995 to 2015. She is thought to be the first person of Māori ancestry to have been appointed to the High Court. In 1988, she was one of the first two women to be appointed Queen's Counsel in New Zealand and in 1989 became the first woman to hold a Crown warrant. In 1992, she became Deputy Solicitor-General for New Zealand. Between 2007 and 2012 she chaired New Zealand's Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA). In 2010 she was elected as an independent expert to the United Nations Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT) and served in that capacity until 2016. From February 2015 until August 2016, she chaired the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales.
Josepha Madigan is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion from July 2020 to March 2024. She served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Rathdown constituency from 2016 to 2024. She served as Minister for Culture, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht from November 2017 to June 2020, and as Chair of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight from July 2016 to November 2017.
Chlöe Charlotte Swarbrick is a New Zealand politician. Following a high-profile but unsuccessful run for the 2016 Auckland mayoral election, she became a parliamentary candidate for the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, standing in the 2017 New Zealand general election and was elected as a member of the New Zealand Parliament at the age of 23. In the 2020 election, Swarbrick was elected as the Member of Parliament for Auckland Central, becoming the second Green Party MP ever to win an electorate seat, and the first without a tacit endorsement from a major party leader. She retained Auckland Central in the 2023 election. In March 2024, she was elected co-leader of the Green Party.
Virginia Ruby Andersen is a New Zealand politician. She has been a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the Labour Party since the 2017 New Zealand general election.
Erica Louise Stanford is a New Zealand politician and Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the National Party. She currently serves as the 49th Minister of Education and the 60th Minister of Immigration in the Sixth National Government of New Zealand.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions was established by the New Zealand Government in 2018 to inquire into and report upon allegations of historical abuse to children, young people and adults in state care and in the care of faith-based institutions in New Zealand between 1950 and 1999.
Taulapapa Brenda Heather-Latu is a New Zealand-born Samoan lawyer and a former Attorney-General of Samoa. She was the first woman to serve as attorney general, and the first New Zealand-born Samoan to head a Government department in Apia. She is married to former dual international rugby player and lawyer George Latu.
Ruth Barbara CharterisKC is a Scottish advocate who has served as Solicitor General for Scotland since 2021. In addition to being the Solicitor General for Scotland, she has been a legally qualified chair of the Scottish Social Services Council since 2017, and has served as Chair of the Fitness to Practice Panel of the SSSC since 2017.
Alan Hall was convicted for the murder of Arthur Easton in 1985. The case has been described as one of New Zealand's worst miscarriages of justice. In August 2023, the Government agreed to pay him $5 million in compensation, the largest nominal payout for wrongful conviction in New Zealand history.