According to the Attorney General's Office, Ellie Reeves KC MP and Andy Slaughter MP have now been sworn in at the Royal Courts of Justice as the Attorney General and Solicitor General. The same ceremony also saw Alex Norris MP sworn in as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. The ceremony is not only constitutional formality. It marks the point at which ministers fully assume offices that carry responsibility for legal advice to government, oversight of key legal institutions and a set of public interest powers with direct consequences for the justice system.
Reeves was appointed Attorney General on 20 July 2026. The government release describes the Attorney General as the government's chief legal adviser and says the post also attends Cabinet. Reeves is also Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland. In practical terms, that makes the office significant well beyond courtroom advocacy. The Attorney General is the minister expected to advise on whether government action is legally sound, which means the post can shape the handling of legislation, executive decisions and legally sensitive disputes across Whitehall.
Slaughter was appointed Solicitor General on 21 July 2026. The Attorney General's Office said he has now been sworn in to a role that supports the Attorney General and sits where legal process and government decision-making meet. In his statement, Slaughter described the post as part of the constitutional bridge between law and government. The title can sound secondary, but the office is not peripheral. The Solicitor General forms part of the same Law Officers' structure and helps carry legal scrutiny across government, particularly when departments are dealing with contentious policy, prosecution issues or wider questions about public confidence in justice.
The government release also sets out the institutional reach of the Law Officers. Reeves and Slaughter superintend the Crown Prosecution Service, the Serious Fraud Office, the Government Legal Department and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate. That matters because these bodies sit across some of the most visible and sensitive parts of the justice system. They cover mainstream criminal prosecution, serious fraud and corruption work, legal advice to government departments and inspection of prosecution standards. The swearing-in therefore has operational relevance as well as constitutional weight.
The Attorney General's Office also highlights the Law Officers' public interest functions. These include referring certain cases to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme, taking legal action in contempt of court matters and providing consent to prosecute offences where statute requires it. These powers are technical, but they have clear public consequences. They can open a route for sentence review, protect the administration of justice when court orders or reporting restrictions are breached, and add an additional legal step before certain offences can be brought before the courts. This is one of the clearest ways the Law Officers' work moves from constitutional office into visible casework.
In her statement, Reeves said she would champion a legal profession that is open to people from all backgrounds. She also said that tackling violence against women and girls would remain her top priority, building on work she previously led as Solicitor General. Slaughter said his time as Chair of the Justice Select Committee had shown him the pressures facing the justice system and that he wanted to address them directly alongside Reeves. Read together, the two statements set out an early direction centred on the rule of law, access to the profession, violence against women and girls, and stronger public confidence in criminal justice. For departments, prosecutors and court users, that is why these appointments matter.
Set against wider concern about court backlogs, prosecution performance and confidence in public institutions, the change in officeholders is likely to be watched closely across the legal sector. The government's own framing places emphasis on lawful decision-making, good governance and a justice system that commands public confidence. For readers outside the legal profession, the key point is straightforward. The Attorney General and Solicitor General are not ceremonial titles. They are the ministers who connect government decision-making with legal advice, prosecution oversight and a number of powers designed to protect the public interest.