Hon. Gabriel Suri
Attorney-General
Welcome Message from Hon. Attorney-General Gabriel Suri
Welcome to the official website of the Attorney-General Chambers of Solomon Islands!
It is my pleasure and honour to welcome you to the website of the Office of the Attorney General of Solomon Islands. The office is known publicly as the Attorney Generals’ Chambers.
This website serves as the authorised platform to provide to readers information about our work, legal services, legislation, publications, and developments within the Chambers. We encourage readers to read and comment constructively as we continue to serve the nation with professionalism, integrity, and excellence.
The Constitution expressly states that the office of the Attorney General is the principal legal adviser to the Government and to the Cabinet and the office is a public office. The Attorney General is required to attend meetings of the Cabinet and the Parliament.
The Attorney General is appointed by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission on the advice of the Prime Minister.
As the principal legal adviser to the Government, it is incumbent upon the Attorney General to play leading role in upholding the rule of law, good governance and ensuring that decisions and actions of the Government are well grounded in sound legal principles.
Thus, the mandate of the Attorney Generals’ Chambers includes providing legal advice to the Government, drafting legislations, developing of polices and representing the Government in Courts.
Our Chambers work collaboratively with Government ministries, provincial Governments and public institutions. Our Chambers have also been working closely with international development partners and the wider community to support progress of our national development goals and the well being of our people.
Our Chambers is committed to promoting justice, accountability and respect for the Constitution and laws of Solomon Islands.
I thank you for visiting our website and for your interest in our work. God Bless.
Our Vision
To provide an impartial, independent, professional legal service to the Crown.
Our Mission
“The provision and delivery of high quality, defensible, accurate, timely, impartial legal services”.
Overview
The Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) is the Office of the Attorney-General (AG). The AGC provides support to the AG to carry out its mandate and functions as prescribed. The AGC comprises of two main divisions, the Litigation and Advice Division which is headed by the Solicitor General (SG), and the Legislative Drafting Division which is headed by the Legal Draftsperson (LD).
The other two (2) divisions of the AGC are the Corporate Division and the Gazette Division. The Corporate Division is headed by the Office Manager (OM), and performs the administrative and office management operations of the AGC. The Gazette Division is responsible for the publication of the laws of Solomon Islands in the Gazette.
The AGC is a public office, and comes under the Executive Arm of the government. The AGC is one of the law agencies that falls under the administration of the Ministry of Justice & Legal Affairs (MJLA). The other law agencies under MJLA are the Office of the Director of Prosecution (ODPP), the Public Solicitors Office (PSO), the Law Reform Commission (LRC) and the Registrar General’s Office (RGO).
The AGC is a law office whose lawyers are appointed by the Judicial & Legal Services Commission. Under the Legal Practitioners Act (Cap.16), AGC lawyers (including those from other MJLA law agencies & others) are exempted from requiring to apply and have a practising certificate in order to practise law. Despite the exemption, most AGC lawyers apply for and have obtained practising certificates.