Attorney General
The Rt Hon Suella Braverman MP
Biography
Suella Braverman was appointed Attorney General on 13 February 2020.
She was previously Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union from January to November 2018.
Suella was elected as the Conservative MP for Fareham in May 2015.
Education
Suella was educated at Heathfield School in London and went on to study Law at Queens’ College, Cambridge. She gained a Masters in Law from the University of Paris 1, Pantheon-Sorbonne and qualified as a New York Attorney. She speaks fluent French.
Career
Suella was called to the Bar in England in 2005 and practised as a self-employed Barrister for 10 years, specialising in Public Law and Judicial Review in Town and Country Planning, Housing and Licensing. Between 2010-2015 she was on the Attorney-General’s Panel of Treasury Counsel.
Suella co-founded a free school, Michaela Community School, in 2014 in Wembley and was Chairman of Governors until October 2017. The school was rated Outstanding by OFSTED in May 2017.
She was elected Member of Parliament for Fareham in 2015. From June 2015 until May 2017 she served on the Education Select Committee.
Personal life
Suella is married, enjoys watching films at the cinema, cooking and spending time with her friends and family. She has back-packed around Australia, India, parts of Africa, China and the Far East.
Attorney General
The Attorney General is chief legal adviser to the Crown and has a number of independent public interest functions, as well as overseeing the Law Officers’ departments. These are:
- 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
The Attorney General also holds the separate office of Advocate General for Northern Ireland. The Advocate General for Scotland has specific responsibility for Scottish law matters.