Dame Brenda Mary King, Mrs Sullivan (born 13 June 1964, in
Belfast) is the
Attorney General for Northern Ireland. Prior to her appointment in 2020, Ms King was First Legislative Counsel in
Executive Office, leading the specialist office responsible for the drafting of Northern Ireland Assembly Bills.
She is the second, and second successive holder of the office not to be a politician sitting in either the
Parliament of Northern Ireland, at Stormont, or the
UK Parliament and the first to be appointed directly from the Civil Service.
Early life
Brenda King attended
Assumption Grammar School
Assumption Grammar School (also known as 'The Assumption', 'Assumption Grammar' or 'AGS’) is a Catholic girls' grammar school in Ballynahinch, County Down, Northern Ireland with over 900 students.
History
The school was founded by the Missio ...
in
Ballynahinch Ballynahinch may refer to:
Northern Ireland
* Ballynahinch, County Armagh, a townland
*Ballynahinch, County Down, a town
Republic of Ireland
*Ballynahinch (barony), in County Galway
*Ballynahinch, County Galway, a townland in County Galway
* Bally ...
,
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...
.
Career
Educated at
Queen's University of Belfast
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and graduating in law in 1986, with further education at the
University of South Carolina and
Cambridge University, Ms King started her career in private practice as a solicitor, qualified in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, before she moved into the civil service, becoming the Executive's chief legislative adviser in 2012. She had previously spent time as a diplomat – including a period in Gibraltar – dealing principally with EU and public international law.
She is a former president of the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel (2017–19), which involved working with lawyers in 92 jurisdictions to improve the quality of legislation in Commonwealth jurisdictions broadly sharing similar common law traditions of lawmaking.
Appointment
King was appointed Attorney General, initially on an interim basis, to succeed John Larkin QC, who stepped down in June 2020 after serving in the post for 10 years. She was sworn in August 2020 at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast, formally taking office as chief legal adviser to the Stormont Executive at a ceremony overseen by Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan.
King was appointed
Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath (DCB) in the
2021 Birthday Honours
The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2021 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...
for services to constitutional law.
References
Living people
1964 births
Alumni of Queen's University Belfast
Attorneys General for Northern Ireland
Dames Commander of the Order of the Bath
Lawyers from Belfast
People educated at Assumption Grammar School
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