Attorney General Suella Braverman QC MP in conversation with CYW

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. She is the first and only woman to have chaired the European Research Group. 

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.

Career

Called to the Bar in 2005, Suella specialised in public law and judicial review. From 2010-2015 she was on the Attorney General’s Panel of Treasury Counsel. She has defended the Home Office in immigration cases, the Parole Board in challenges by prisoners and the Ministry of Defence in matters relating to injuries sustained in battle.

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.Responsibilities include:Overall responsibility for the work of the Attorney General’s Office and superintended Departments (the Government Legal Department, the Crown Prosecution Service, the Serious Fraud Office and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate)
• Specific statutory duty to superintend the discharge of duties by the Director of Public Prosecutions (who heads the Crown Prosecution Service) and the Director of the Serious Fraud Office
• Non-statutory general oversight of the Services Prosecuting Authority and government prosecuting departments
• Government’s principal legal adviser dealing with (amongst others) questions of international law, human rights, devolution and COVID-19 issues
• Public interest functions, for example, reference of unduly lenient sentences to the Court of Appeal, bringing proceedings for contempt of court and intervention in certain proceedings to protect charities
• Questions of law arising on Bills and with issues of legal policy
• Legal aspects of all major international and domestic litigation involving the Government, (including matters related to future relations with the EU.

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.