The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

of New York and head of the Department of Law of the

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...

. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

colonial government of New Netherland. The attorney general of the State of New York is the highest-paid state attorney general in the country.

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

Letitia James currently serves as attorney general, in office since January 1, 2019.

Functions

The attorney general advises the executive branch of state government and defends actions and proceedings on behalf of the state. The attorney general acts independently of the

governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...

. The department's regulations are compiled in title 13 of the ''

New York Codes, Rules and Regulations The ''New York Codes, Rules and Regulations'' (NYCRR) contains New York state rules and regulations. The NYCRR is officially compiled by the New York State Department of State's Division of Administrative Rules. Contents See also * '' New York ...

'' (NYCRR).

Organization

The legal functions of the Department of Law are divided primarily into five major divisions: Appeals and Opinions, State Counsel, Criminal Justice, Economic Justice and Social Justice.

Chief deputy attorney general

* Harlan LevySchneiderman Fills Six Top Posts
''NY Law Journal.com'', 23 December 2010, Stashenko, J., Retrieved 1 November 2013. (2011–2015)

Solicitor general

* Ruth Kessler Toch (1966–1979) * Shirley Adelson Siegel (1979–1982) * Robert Hermann (1983–1986) *

O. Peter Sherwood O is the fifteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. O may also refer to: Letters * Օ օ, (Unicode: U+0555, U+0585) a letter in the Armenian alphabet * Ο ο, Omicron, (Greek), a letter in the Greek alphabet * O (Cyrillic), a letter of the ...

(1986–1991) *

Jerry Boone Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian film ...

(1991–1994) * Victoria A. Graffeo (1995–1996) *

Barbara Gott Billet Barbara may refer to: People * Barbara (given name) * Barbara (painter) (1915–2002), pseudonym of Olga Biglieri, Italian futurist painter * Barbara (singer) (1930–1997), French singer * Barbara Popović (born 2000), also known mononymously ...

(1996–1998)New York State Commissioner of Taxation and Finance Barbara G. Billet
, ''FreedomSpeaks.com'', Retrieved 1 November 2013. *

Preeta D. Bansal Preeta D. Bansal (born October 18, 1965) is an American lawyer who served as the General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor to the federal Office of Management and Budget from 2009 until 2011. Prior to her work in the Obama administration, she ser ...

(1999–2001) *

Caitlin Halligan Caitlin Joan Halligan (born December 14, 1966) is a lawyer who is the former general counsel for the Manhattan district attorney's office. She served as Solicitor General for the state of New York from 2001 until 2007. President Barack Obama nomi ...

(2001–2007) * Barbara D. Underwood (2007–present)

Terms of office

* From 1684 to 1777, when New York was under the British colonial government, the attorney general was appointed by the

British crown The Crown is the state (polity), state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, British Overseas Territories, overseas territories, Provinces and territorie ...

, or the colonial governor on its behalf. In 1693, the attorney general earned a salary of 50 pounds. * From 1777 to 1822, the attorney general was appointed by the

Council of Appointment The Council of Appointment (sometimes also Council of Appointments) was a body of the Government of New York that existed from 1777 to 1822. History Under the New York Constitution of 1777, the Council of Appointment consisted of the Governor of N ...

. * From 1823 to 1846, the attorney general was elected by the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official ...

for a three-year term. * Attorneys general have been elected by the voters since 1847.

List of attorneys general of New York

Province of New York (1684–1776)

New York State (1777–present)

References

External links

*
Department of Law
in the

New York 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. ...

New York Consolidated Laws
at Law.Justia.com
U.S. Supreme Court Opinions - "Cases with title containing: State of New York"
at

New York State Bar Association

Press releases
at New York Attorney General {{U.S. State Attorneys General 1626 establishments in the Dutch Empire