Michael Padfield has been appointed as director and deputy head of the Attorney General’s Office.
AGO director general Douglas Wilson said Padfield had been promoted following an open and fair recruitment process across the civil service.
Padfield joined the AGO, which is a ministerial department responsible for providing advice and support to the law officers who give legal advice to government, in 2020. He became head of the domestic law team and a member of the AGO’s executive board the following year.
In the autumn of 2023, Padfield was appointed as general counsel in the Prime Minister’s Office, under then-PM Rishi Sunak.
Wilson said he was “absolutely delighted” to confirm Padfield’s new role.
“Michael is a great lawyer and a strong leader who brings considerable experience of working on the hardest legal problems in government,” he said.
“He is a trusted adviser to the law officers and to other ministers, and has a wide network in No.10 and across Whitehall.
“I look forward to working together with Michael to support the law officers and lead the AGO in making law and politics work together at the heart of the UK constitution.”
Padfield started his career as a commercial lawyer in the City of London before joining the litigation team in the Treasury Solicitor’s Department in 2014.
He subsequently worked as a lawyer in a number of roles within the Government Legal Department, including at the Home Office and Treasury, before first joining the AGO five years ago.