Brenda King

Brenda King, born Belfast, Northern Ireland, 13 June 1964, 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.

Brenda King
Attorney General for Northern Ireland
In office 18 Aug 2020 – incumbent
First Minister	Arlene Foster Michelle O'Neill (Deputy)
Preceded by	John Larkin
Personal details
Born	13 Jun 1964 Belfast, Northern Ireland
Political party	none
Spouse(s)	James Sullivan
Alma mater	Queen's University Belfast
Profession	Solicitor, Parliamentary Counsel, diplomat

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.[1]

Early life

Brenda King attended Assumption Grammar School in Ballynahinch, County Down.

Career

Educated at Queen's University of Belfast 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.[2]

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 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.[3]

References

1. Larkin, John (2 February 2010). "Profile of North's AG-apparent". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
2. "Interim Attorney General NI Brenda King - QUB". daro.qub.ac.uk.
3. "Northern Ireland's new Attorney General Brenda King sworn in at Belfast's Royal Courts of Justice" – via www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.