What Attorneys General Do

Skip to content What Attorneys General Do Home / Attorneys General / What Attorneys General Do

As chief legal officers of the states, commonwealths, District of Columbia, and territories of the United States, the role of an attorney general is to serve as counselor to state government agencies and legislatures, and as a representative of the public interest.  

Attorney General Powers and Responsibilities

While varying from one jurisdiction to the next due to statutory and constitutional mandates, the role of attorney general typically includes: 

• Issuing formal opinions to state agencies 
• Acting as public advocates in areas such as child support enforcement, consumer protections, antitrust and utility regulation 
• Proposing legislation 
• Enforcing federal and state environmental laws 
• Representing the state and state agencies before the state and federal courts 
• Handling criminal appeals and serious statewide criminal prosecutions 
• Instituting civil suits on behalf of the state 
• Representing the public's interests in charitable trust and solicitations 
• Operating victim compensation programs 

Learn more about the powers and responsibilities of attorneys general.

Explore more details about America’s 56 state and territory attorneys general on our research page. 

Purchase the new fourth edition of State Attorneys General Powers and Responsibilities. 

Connect with NAAG and the Attorney General Community

Create a NAAG account to subscribe to our newsletters or mailing lists.

Create Account Subscribe Internal Feedback / Report an Error

Request an Update / Report an Error

Page to be UpdatedThe change you are requesting will be linked to this page. The URL for the page will be included in a hidden field when the form is submitted.What change or update needs to be made to this page?(Required)Please enter your change or describe your request. Be sure to reference where the error appears on the page and what needs to be done specifically. Upload File(s)Upload any files that need to be linked to this page. PDF only. Submit another request if you have more than five files to upload. Drop files here or Select files Accepted file types: pdf, docx, xls, Max. file size: 128 MB, Max. files: 5. Who is requesting this change?(Required) First Last Email(Required) CAPTCHA

Δ

X Scroll To Top Insert/edit link Close

Enter the destination URL

URL Link Text Open link in a new tab

Or link to existing content

Search No search term specified. Showing recent items. Search or use up and down arrow keys to select an item. Cancel To provide you more clarity about how we collect, store and use personal information, and your rights to control that information, we have updated our privacy policy, which also explains how we use cookies. You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website.I Agree