All Government lawyers return under the Attorney General’s Office

By Lagi Keresoma/

Apia, SAMOA – 9 February 2026 – Cabinet has directed that all government lawyers employed by the Ministries and State-Owned Enterprises be returned to work under the Office of the Attorney General.

Currently, every ministry and corporation has their own lawyers to deal with their legal matters, but that now changes with the Cabinet direction and the new Attorney General, Mauga Precious Chang who is being sworn in by the Head of State this morning.

Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Schmidt said the rationale behind the change is to address the shortage of lawyers at the Attorney General’s office to handle matters pertaining to the Government.

The Government relies on the AG’s office for legal advice and that cannot be fulfilled with the limited number of lawyers working together and supporting the Attorney General which has resulted in the delay of a lot of matters.

Over the years, the AG’s office prosecution section had been outsourcing matters to private law firms to prosecute because of the lack of lawyers to handle matters at the AG’s office.

While each ministry and SOE had their own lawyer some of the matters are referred back to the AGs office and later outsourced due to staff shortage or lack of available capacity.

According to the Prime Minister, the move will not only address the current staff shortage within the AGs office but will include capacity building and developing a pathway for the local legal fraternity.