The Attorney General of New Mexico, an elected

executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer, o ...

of the state, oversees the New Mexico Attorney General's Office and serves as head of the New Mexico Department of Justice. The officeholder, who is required to be a licensed attorney, is fifth in succession to the office of

Governor of New Mexico , insignia = Seal of the Governor of New Mexico.svg , insigniasize = 110px , insigniacaption = Seal of the Governor , image = File:Michelle Lujan Grisham 2021.jpg , imagesize = 200px , alt = , incumbent = Michelle Lujan Grisham , incu ...

, after the

Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico The lieutenant governor of New Mexico ( es, Lista de Vicegobernadores de Nuevo México) is an elected official in the state of New Mexico that ranks just below the governor of New Mexico. The lieutenant governor is the first person in the order of ...

, Secretary of State of New Mexico, President ''

pro tempore ''Pro tempore'' (), abbreviated ''pro tem'' or ''p.t.'', is a Latin phrase which best translates to "for the time being" in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a ''locum tenens'' (placeholder) in the absence of ...

'' of the

New Mexico Senate The New Mexico Senate ( es, Senado de Nuevo México) is the upper house of the New Mexico State Legislature. The Senate consists of 42 members, with each senator representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts across the stat ...

and the Speaker of

New Mexico House of Representatives ) is the lower house of the New Mexico State Legislature. There are 70 members of the House. Each member represents roughly 25,980 residents of New Mexico. The most recent elections were held on November 3, 2020. Composition Leadership Cu ...

. The Attorney General of New Mexico functions as the state's

chief legal officer A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

legal counsel A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicitor, ...

to state government,

consumer advocate Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

and guardian of the

public interest The public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. Overview Economist Lok Sang Ho in his ''Public Policy and the Public Interest'' argues that the public interest must be assessed impartially and, therefore ...

Statutory responsibilities

The officeholder represents the state before any courts or agencies when the public interest requires or when requested by the Governor and prosecutes and defends all causes in the

New Mexico Supreme Court The New Mexico Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is established and its powers defined by Article VI of the New Mexico Constitution. It is primarily an appellate court which reviews civil and criminal decisi ...

New Mexico Court of Appeals The New Mexico Court of Appeals (in case citation, N.M. Ct. App.) is the intermediate-level appellate court for the state of New Mexico. History The court of appeals was created by a constitutional amendment submitted to the electorate in a ...

, or any other court or

tribunal A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a single ...

in which the state is a party or is interested. The New Mexico Attorney General prosecutes and defends all actions and proceedings involving any state employee in their official capacity, as well as may represent residential or

small business Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have fewer employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being able to ap ...

consumers before the

New Mexico Public Regulation Commission The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission RCis a regulatory authority in New Mexico charged with the responsibility of seeing that utility customers have "fair and reasonable rates, and to assure reasonable and adequate services to the public as ...

. Upon request, the AG will provide written legal opinions to the

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

, any state

official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

, or any

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

on any subject pending before one of these officials. In matters involving the state Election Code the AG provides legal assistance to the Secretary of State of New Mexico. The AG drafts

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

s, bonds, and other instruments as required for use by the state. At the governor's direction, the AG may attend and assist in the

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...

of any

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a legal person, person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felony, felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concep ...

or information in any county of the state. When a District Attorney fails or refuses to act, the AG may act on behalf of a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in any

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

case. In matters of the

impeachment Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...

of a state

legislator A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for ex ...

or employee, the AG initiates

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

enforcement actions. The AG also prosecutes removal proceedings against district attorneys. The AG establishes and maintains a register of all documents filed by charitable organizations and makes it available for public inspection.

List of New Mexico Attorneys General

;Parties

References

External links

New Mexico Attorney General
official website
New Mexico Attorney General
articles at ''ABA Journal''

at

FindLaw FindLaw is a business of Thomson Reuters that provides online legal information and online marketing services for law firms. FindLaw was created by Stacy Stern, Martin Roscheisen, and Tim Stanley in 1995, and was acquired by Thomson West in 2001. ...

* ttp://law.justia.com/codes/new-mexico/ New Mexico Statutesat Law.Justia.com
U.S. Supreme Court Opinions – "Cases with title containing: State of New Mexico"
at

State Bar of New Mexico

New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas profile
at National Association of Attorneys General
Press releases
at New Mexico Attorney General {{New Mexico statewide elected officials New Mexico Attorneys General