Questions to Ask an Attorney General
These questions to ask an attorney general are written for the state office in the United States: for a resident with one turn at a town hall microphone, a class expecting a visit, a student journalist or reporter, and a voter at a forum where the people running for the job share a stage. They come in six groups: what the office is and where a district attorney's work begins, consumer protection and fraud, how cases get chosen, independence from the governor and from politics, the large suits against companies and the federal government, and a short set on the career. What an attorney general may do differs from one state to the next, so look up how yours is set up before you choose.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The Office
What does a state attorney general actually do?
Why ask it
'The state's lawyer' is the standard reply, and it tells a room very little. Ask for one thing the office did this month under each of the roles most of these offices have: defending the state when it is sued, suing on its behalf, advising agencies and taking complaints from residents.
How is your office different from a district attorney's?
Why ask it
In many states local prosecutors bring most criminal cases while the attorney general handles appeals, statewide matters or cases a county hands up, but each state draws that line itself. Make it concrete by asking who would prosecute a break-in on your street and who would argue the appeal.
How is a state attorney general different from the U.S. Attorney General?
Why ask it
The U.S. Attorney General runs the federal Justice Department and is nominated by the president; a state attorney general holds a separate office under the state's own constitution and laws and does not report to Washington. The better follow-up is when the two work the same case, and when this office has taken the federal government to court.
What do people ask your office for that it is not allowed to do?
Why ask it
Acting as one resident's private lawyer is the usual example, and hearing it said plainly saves people months of waiting on a letter. Get the name of the place those callers are sent instead, and write it down.
When does your office prosecute a crime itself?
Why ask it
Criminal power is where states differ most: some offices can charge almost anything, others step in only on request or for set categories such as fraud against the state or public corruption. Have them name the last case they charged and why it was theirs and not a county prosecutor's.
Who is your client: the governor, the state agencies or the public?
Why ask it
Lawyers inside these offices argue about this one, and the answer colors most of what you hear afterward. The follow-up that matters is a time those three wanted different things, and which of them the office sided with.
What is an attorney general's opinion, and does anyone have to follow it?
Why ask it
Officials ask the office in writing what a law means, and how binding the reply is depends on the state. For a livelier answer, ask which recent opinion annoyed the official who requested it.
How many lawyers work for you, and what do most of them spend their days on?
Why ask it
Much of the work in these offices is defending the state when it is sued, over prisons, agency decisions and contracts, and few visitors know it. That proportion is worth having before anyone talks about the headline cases.
What happens when a state agency you represent is the one breaking the law?
Why ask it
The same office that defends an agency in court may be expected to tell it to stop. Find out whether different lawyers handle those two roles and whether the advice ever becomes public.
What authority do you have over local police departments and county prosecutors?
Why ask it
It ranges from the power to take over a case or review a police shooting to no more than a phone call and a request. Ask who investigates here when an officer is accused of a crime, since that is where the limits show.
Consumers
If a business cheats me, what can your office do about it?
Why ask it
Consumer divisions commonly take complaints, sometimes mediate, and use the pile to build cases, without representing any one person. The follow-up is what happens to a complaint in its first thirty days and whether the person who filed it hears back.
Which scams are reaching people in this state most often right now?
Why ask it
Works in a classroom or a senior center, because everyone leaves with something to watch for. Get the first contact described (a text, a call, a fake invoice), since the opening move is what people can learn to spot.
How many complaints about one company does it take before you investigate?
Why ask it
There is seldom a magic number; offices tend to weigh the pattern, the amount lost and who was targeted. What you take home is whether filing matters when your own loss was forty dollars.
When you win money from a company, where does it go?
Why ask it
Refunds to the people harmed, the state's general fund, a dedicated fund and the office's own budget are all possible, and state law often settles the split. Name one settlement from the news and ask what share reached the people it was announced for.
What does your office do when an older resident is defrauded?
Why ask it
Listen for a unit, a hotline and a case where money came back, in rising order of difficulty. A relative in the room can then ask whether they may report on a parent's behalf and what paperwork to keep.
What can you do about companies that collect, sell or lose our personal data?
Why ask it
Start with which law they would enforce, because some states have a broad privacy statute and others lean on older consumer protection rules. Data breach letters make a good second question: who must send one, how fast, and what happens when a company is late.
Who watches over charities here, and what happens when one misuses donations?
Why ask it
Oversight of charities sits with the attorney general in many states and gets little attention until a scandal. The practical follow-up is whether a donor can look up a charity's registration and filings before giving.
Which complaints about landlords, lenders and car dealers are yours, and which belong to another agency?
Why ask it
A sorting question, and the sorting is the point. For each one that is not theirs, get the name of the agency that does handle it, so you leave knowing which door to try.
What can a student do if a college or a loan company misled them?
Why ask it
Suited to a campus visit. Whether the office has taken on schools or loan servicers depends on the state, so ask for an example and then what a student should save: the enrollment agreement, the ads, the emails.
Why do robocalls keep getting through, and which part of that can a state fix?
Why ask it
A straight answer admits the limits: calls placed from abroad, faked caller ID, companies that vanish. Then ask what the office has done about the phone carriers that pass the calls along, and where a resident reports a number.
Priorities
How do you choose which cases to take when you cannot take them all?
Why ask it
'We follow the law' dodges it, since the law permits far more cases than the staff can carry. Real criteria sound like how many people were hurt, how much money was involved and whether anyone else could bring the case.
What are your top three priorities, and what gets less attention because of them?
Why ask it
The first half will be on the office website already. A named division that lost lawyers, or a kind of case now referred elsewhere, is what makes the answer worth the turn.
What would you change about how this office has been run?
Why ask it
Built for a forum where candidates for the job share a stage, and it works on an incumbent as a question about what they inherited. Push for one case they would have brought and one they would have dropped, because 'restoring trust' fits on anybody's leaflet.
Which case did you decide not to bring, and what made you pass on it?
Why ask it
Declining is where most of the job's discretion gets used, and it is almost never announced. Let them leave the names out, since the people involved were never charged or sued. The reason is what you are after: thin evidence, the cost, or a law that did not reach the conduct.
What number tells you the office had a good year?
Why ask it
Dollars recovered is the figure every office likes to report, and one large settlement can make an ordinary year look historic. See whether they also count complaints resolved, appeals won or how long a resident waits for a reply.
Which part of the opioid and fentanyl problem belongs to your office?
Why ask it
Prosecuting dealers may sit mostly with local and federal prosecutors, while suits against drug makers and distributors are the kind of case attorneys general bring. If your state received settlement money, find out which board or formula controls it and where a resident can see what it has paid for.
What does your office do when someone says they were wrongly convicted?
Why ask it
In many states this office defends convictions on appeal, which can put it across the courtroom from the person making the claim. Some attorneys general have set up a unit to review old cases, so ask whether one exists here, who can apply to it and whether it has cleared anyone.
Where does someone go here with a civil rights or discrimination complaint?
Why ask it
Some attorneys general run a civil rights division and others pass these to a separate state commission or a federal agency. The useful detail is what the office does with a complaint it cannot take: forward it, or send a form letter.
What is the office doing about the risks children face online?
Why ask it
Answers tend to mix three different things: criminal cases, lawsuits against platforms and talks given in schools. Which of the three gets the most staff tells you more than the list does.
When a company pollutes a river or the air here, who takes it to court?
Why ask it
Often an environmental agency investigates and refers the case to the attorney general, but the arrangement varies. Bring a local site if you have one and ask where its case stands, or who would know.
How does someone in a small town, or someone who does not speak English well, reach your office?
Why ask it
Listen for specifics: regional offices, a phone line answered by a person, forms in other languages, staff who travel. If the answer is the website, ask what share of complaints come from outside the largest cities.
Independence
When have you disagreed with the governor on a legal question, and how was it resolved?
Why ask it
Where the attorney general is elected separately, the two can come from opposing parties and end up on opposite sides in court. A real example includes who represented the governor once the attorney general would not.
Would you defend a state law in court that you believe is wrong?
Why ask it
The traditional answer is yes unless the law is plainly unconstitutional, and the interesting part is where they put 'plainly'. Follow with whether the office has ever declined to defend a law and who stepped in.
How would your office handle an investigation of someone from your own party?
Why ask it
A promise of fairness costs nothing, so go after the mechanics: who decides to open the file, whether career lawyers or political appointees run it, and when an outside prosecutor is brought in. Past tense beats hypothetical if there has been such a case.
Should an attorney general be elected or appointed?
Why ask it
Most states elect the office, and a few leave the choice to the governor, the legislature or the state's highest court, so look up which you have before the event. Whoever holds the job will defend the way they got it; the telling part is what they concede the other method does better.
Who funds campaigns for attorney general, and what happens when a donor's company comes under investigation?
Why ask it
Where the office is elected, contributions are normally in public filings you can read before the event. Come with one donor's name and ask about the recusal rule, written or unwritten.
Who in your office can tell you no?
Why ask it
A deputy, a solicitor general or a division chief who has talked the boss out of a case is a healthy sign. Request the most recent time it happened; a long pause is information too.
When do you hire private law firms, and how are they chosen and paid?
Why ask it
States sometimes bring in outside firms for large cases, often for a share of whatever is won. Whether those contracts are public, whether they were bid and whether the firms give to campaigns are three things a reporter can check afterward.
Do you plan to run for another office, and should that change how we read your announcements?
Why ask it
The job is a well-worn step toward a governor's race or a Senate seat, so the question will not startle anyone on the stage. Whatever the reply, go on to how they keep the timing of a lawsuit apart from the timing of a campaign.
What happens here when a city or a state agency refuses to release public records?
Why ask it
Depending on the state, the attorney general's office may review the refusal, issue an opinion, train agencies on the records law, or have no part at all and leave it to a court. The awkward follow-up is what the office does when the agency refusing is one it also represents.
If something went wrong inside your own office, who would investigate it?
Why ask it
States settle this differently: an inspector general, a legislative committee, a special counsel, the bar's disciplinary arm, or no one with a clear mandate. A vague reply is worth a line in a reporter's notebook, along with when any of them last looked.
Big Cases
How do you decide between suing a company and settling before a case is filed?
Why ask it
Settling early gets money to people sooner and keeps the facts out of a courtroom, and a good answer owns that trade. Two things to pin down: whether the company has to admit anything, and whether the settlement papers are public.
Why do so many states join the same lawsuit, and how do you decide whether to sign on?
Why ask it
Groups of attorneys general often investigate one company together and split the work and the recovery. Find out what this office contributed to the last one: lawyers and months, or a signature.
Why would a state take the federal government to court, and when has this office done it?
Why ask it
States sue over federal rules, money and orders under presidents of either party, and more often when the White House belongs to the other one. Get one suit the office filed, then what a resident here would have noticed had it been lost.
Have you ever stayed out of a lawsuit that other attorneys general in your party joined?
Why ask it
A yes with a reason is the best evidence of independent judgment you will get in a short exchange. If the answer is no, ask what such a case would have to look like.
What is the largest case the office has open now, and what would winning change for people here?
Why ask it
They may be able to say little about a pending matter, and that limit is real. The second half is still fair, and it shows whether the case was picked for its effect at home or its place in the news.
After a settlement is announced, who checks that the company keeps its promises?
Why ask it
Refund deadlines and promised changes in conduct can slip once the cameras leave. Good signs are a named monitor, reports filed with a court and a time the office went back to enforce a deal.
What can a state do on its own when a merger or a price hike hurts people here?
Why ask it
Many states have competition laws of their own, and some have price-gouging rules that apply during an emergency, with very different reach. A hospital merger or a storm-week price spike from your area turns a civics answer into a specific one.
Why does your office file briefs in court cases from other states?
Why ask it
A friend-of-the-court brief is a cheap way to take a side in a national fight, and attorneys general sign a great many of them. Ask who decides which ones to join and whether the stake for this state gets written down anywhere.
Career
Why did you want to be attorney general and not a judge or a legislator?
Why ask it
The comparison is what lifts this above the stock opener. A judge waits for cases to arrive and a legislator writes the law, so a thought-through answer names something that only choosing which cases to bring could give them.
What kind of law did you practice before this job, and what was new to you when you started it?
Why ask it
People reach this office from prosecutors' offices, legislatures, private firms and its own ranks, and each route leaves a gap. A career prosecutor tends to meet the civil side late and a civil litigator the criminal side, so the second half shows which division they had to learn from the staff.
What does a new lawyer in your office do in the first year?
Why ask it
Aimed at anyone thinking about law school. Ask how soon a new hire stands up in court alone and who reads their first brief before it is filed.
Do you still argue cases in court yourself?
Why ask it
Many attorneys general manage and rarely argue, leaving appeals to a solicitor general or senior deputies. Either answer opens the better question of what they miss about being in a courtroom.
What jobs are there in your office for people who are not lawyers?
Why ask it
Investigators, consumer mediators, victim advocates, paralegals, analysts and press staff commonly work alongside the attorneys. Worth asking in any classroom where most students are not headed to law school.
Does your office take interns or law clerks, and what do they get to do?
Why ask it
The practical closer for a class visit. Come away with when applications open, whether the places are paid, and whether a high school or college student can apply or only someone already in law school.
Getting a straight answer from the state's top lawyer
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Is it a question for the attorney general at all?
A crime or a court case in your county
Charging decisions in an ordinary criminal case usually belong to the local prosecutor, and an attorney general may have no say unless the case is handed up or reaches an appeal. Find out which applies in your state before you spend a turn on a case the speaker cannot touch.
A business that took your money
Consumer protection is home ground for most of these offices, though they act for the public and will not be your lawyer. One complaint rarely starts a case and a pattern can, so ask about the company and how many others have reported it, not about your refund alone.
Trouble with a state agency
The attorney general is typically that agency's lawyer, which makes the office an awkward place to complain about it. Use the event to learn who does take such complaints where you live: an ombudsman, an inspector general, an auditor or your own legislator.
Ten minutes on the office's website
The site shows which divisions exist and whether there is a criminal bureau at all, so you can ask about the edges of the office instead of its outline. A month of its press releases shows what the attorney general would like to be asked about. Pick one announcement to follow up on, such as where the refunds from a settlement stand, and one subject that appears nowhere in the list.
Fitting the questions to the room
One turn at a town hall
Choose from Consumers or Priorities and tie the question to something you can hold up: a complaint number, a company's name, a letter you received. That keeps the reply from drifting into a speech. Say it in a sentence or two and stop; staff at the back of the room can often take a document even when the attorney general cannot comment on it.
A class with one period
Open with The Office, and put the district attorney comparison early, because most students arrive thinking the two jobs are one. Share the groups out among the class beforehand so the visit does not spend ten minutes on a single topic, and hold the Career questions for the final few minutes.
A reporter with the recorder running
Independence and Big Cases are your groups. Arrive with a specific filing, contract or donor record in hand, and when the reply is that a matter cannot be discussed, ask which rule prevents it and when that will change.
A stage of candidates
Someone running for the office has no record in it yet, so turn each 'when have you' into 'what would you', and start from the Priorities question about what they would change. Put the same question to every candidate and compare the replies side by side.
What they cannot answer, and what to ask in its place
An open investigation or a pending suit
Attorneys general generally decline to discuss a matter that is still under way, and pressing harder only uses up your turn. Ask about the process around it: who makes the charging or filing decision, what becomes public once papers are filed, and roughly how long matters of that kind take.
Advice about your own legal trouble
The attorney general is not your lawyer and should not tell you what to do about your lease, your debt or your case. What you can fairly ask is where a person in your position goes first, whether that is a complaint form, a legal aid office or another agency.
The national argument
A question about a controversy in the national news brings back a speech the room has already heard. Pull it home by asking what the matter cost or gained residents of this state, and what the office itself did about it.
Three questions in one turn
With three parts on the table, the speaker picks the easiest and the moderator moves on. Decide which one you would regret not asking and leave the others for the staff or a letter.
Once the event is over
Read the settlement, not the announcement
A press release gives the headline figure. The settlement or court order behind it, where it is public, says who gets paid, by when, and what the company admitted. Formal opinions are normally published and campaign finance filings show who gave, so a good deal of what was said from the stage can be checked in an evening.
File the complaint anyway
If your question was about a company, the spoken answer does not put anything in the office's files. Submit the complaint through the consumer division, keep the reference number, and ask how long a reply normally takes in your state.
Put the unanswered question in a letter
When the reply was 'my staff will get back to you', write to the communications or constituent services address the next day, giving the event and the date. Reporters and students can also ask how the state's open records law applies to the office itself, since the rules differ and some records are exempt.