The Florida attorney general is an elected cabinet official in the U.S. state of Florida. The

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

serves as the chief legal officer of the state and is head of the Florida Department of Legal Affairs. The office is one of Florida's three elected state cabinet posts, along with the

chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

and

agriculture commissioner In the state governments of the United States, all 50 U.S. state, states have the Executive (government), executive position of agriculture commissioner, director of agriculture, or secretary of agriculture. This official is in charge of the stat ...

. The current attorney general is Republican Ashley Moody, who took office on January 8, 2019.

Election and terms of office

As with other elected statewide offices in Florida, the attorney general is limited to serving two consecutive four-year terms. The attorney general appoints the

Florida solicitor general The solicitor general of Florida or Florida solicitor general is the top appellate (appeals) solicitor (lawyer) for the U.S. State of Florida. It is an appointed position in the Office of the Florida Attorney General and the individual serves at t ...

who serves at his or her pleasure. The current solicitor is

Amit Agarwal Amit Agarwal formerly served as Florida Solicitor General, Solicitor General of Florida, an office he held since June 2016. In October 2021, Agarwal joined the law firm of Holland & Knight as a partner. As Solicitor General, Agarwal represen ...

. The attorney general is second (behind the

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

) in the line of succession to the office of Governor of Florida.

Removal from office

The Florida attorney general can be

impeached 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 ...

for committing a "misdemeanor in office" by the State House of Representatives, and then convicted and thereby removed from office by a two-thirds vote of the State Senate.

List of Florida attorneys general

Living former Florida attorneys general

As of , there are six living former Florida attorneys general, the oldest being James C. Smith (served 1979–1987, born 1940). The most recent attorney general to die was

Robert L. Shevin Robert L. Shevin (January 19, 1934 – July 11, 2005) was the Florida Attorney General from 1971 until 1979 and a judge on the Florida Third District Court of Appeal. Background Robert Shevin was born in Miami, Florida. He received his bachelor ...

on July 11, 2005 (served 1971–1979, born 1934). File:Secretary of State Jim Smith.jpg, James C. Smith, 1979–1987 File:Bob Butterworth.jpg, Bob Butterworth, 1987–2002 File:Richard Doran.jpg, Richard E. Doran, 2002–2003 File:Charlie Crist, official portrait, 115th Congress (cropped).jpg, Charlie Crist, 2003-2007 File:McCollum bio photo.jpg, Bill McCollum, 2007–2011 File:Bondi bio photo crop.jpg, Pam Bondi, 2011–2019

References

External links

Florida Attorney General
official website
Florida 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. ...

Florida Statutes
at Law.Justia.com
U.S. Supreme Court Opinions - "Cases with title containing: State of Florida"
at

The Florida Bar

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi profile
at

National Association of Attorneys General The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of state and territory attorneys general in the United States. NAAG is governed by member attorneys general, with a president and executive committee se ...