http://www.lsgov.us
Welcome to the official website for the San Andreas Department of Justice.
Qui Pro Domina Justitia Sequitur
- The Office of the Attorney General is, as the Chief Law Enforcement Officer responsible for all law enforcement, including the State Bar, Office of the Public Defender, and the Office of the District Attorney. This means all attorney operations at the state level, and most at the local level.
- The Office of Chief Justice is responsible for all systems of justice, judicial review, legal codes and the court operations here in San Andreas. This includes the defense and interpretation of the United States Constitution at the state and local level, review of legislation, arbitration, the BAR association, and other public services.
The Office of the Attorney General is divided into four entities:
- The Office of the District Attorney (ODA) handles all litigation and general counsel services for the State, City, and other state agencies as needed. Prosecution on behalf of the State (The People vs.) will originate from the District Attorney or a Deputy District Attorney. The ODA collaborates with state agencies as needed to support their legal operations.
- The Office of the Public Defender (OPD) trains and retains all public attorneys that provide free legal counsel to the criminally accused, and those who are granted an attorney by the state or by the courts. Attorneys with the OPD receive a government salary and free services in return for offering pro bono work.
The Office of the Chief Justice is divided into three entities:
- The San Andreas State Bar Association (SBA) is responsible for admitting attorneys for either private practice, or State-sponsored practice, id est in the Justice Department or Police Department. It is also responsible for reviewing attorneys who commit ethical violations and, if necessary, the SBA may disbar them.
- The Superior Court of San Andreas serves as the court of original jurisdiction for the State of San Andreas. It hears all civil and criminal cases, as well as their appeals. It can also review contracts and make rulings and injunctions, if necessary, based off of evidence presented to the court.
- The Supreme Court of San Andreas serves as the final appellate court for the State of San Andreas. It serves as the 2nd Circuit Court for the United States Court of Appeals, and reviews lower court decisions on a case-by-case basis.
You can also call the San Andreas Department of Justice at our official hotline, 1-800-JUSTICE. Our hotline is for requesting an attorney or reporting a miscarriage of justice, not for emergency services or general legal counsel. In an emergency, please always call 911. For legal advice, please reach out to a private, Bar-certified attorney.
If you are in police or other law enforcement custody and have been read your Miranda Rights, you may also request legal counsel directly from the officer rather than our hotline. The officer will contact the SADOJ through the State interdepartmental radio. State agencies may contact a representative of the Office of the District Attorney or Office of the Attorney General for legal counsel, or for prosecutions or other work in an appropriate District Attorney capacity.
The United States Department of Justice has its roots in the Judiciary Act of 1789, which established a federal court system and the position of Attorney General, chief litigator of the United States of America. In the almost 230 years since its establishment, the office of the Attorney General has grown into the modern day Department of Justice, seeing huge expansions under Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s and 40s alongside the expansion of other executive offices.
Meanwhile, many states have also established their own state-level Attorney General's Offices to represent their own state in the pursuit of justice. San Andreas is no different, and has had an Attorney General's Office for almost as long as it has been a state. However, by the 1970s, rampant crime and severe budget cuts left the Attorney General incapable of supporting the state's legal needs. The Los Santos Police Department was unable to investigate countless crimes, waiting for the authorization from the Office of the Attorney General that the Department was not likely to ever receive. At one point in the Department's long history, rumors circulated that an entire hallway of offices were reserved, all for the storage of cases that were awaiting prosecution.
This legal disaster in San Andreas caught the attention of none other than President Jimmy Carter, who visited San Andreas in 1977 to see the rampant crime and failing bureaucracy first-hand. Immediately after his visit, President Carter announced an executive order, authorizing the United States Department of Justice to begin operations in San Andreas under the direct supervision of Attorney General Griffin Bell.
The Governor was, however, furious over this clear violation of the State's autonomy rights, and threatened a lawsuit against the federal government if the USDOJ continued to operate in San Andreas. While the Governor acknowledged the Attorney General's Office was in need of dire support, he believed that it remained a state issue, and should be managed through the Governor's Office, rather than a federally-mandated executive agency.
Eventually, a compromise was reached. In 1978 President Carter signed the Carter Crime Act, a bill establishing, among other law enforcement funding, the right for San Andreas to maintain a state-level Department of Justice, under the authority of the Governor of San Andreas. The act also forbade any US Justice Department operations from taking place in San Andreas, requiring that they operate via the San Andreas Justice Department instead. The act also required regular federal reviews of SADOJ activities, and reformed the state's Office of the Attorney General to hold the position of the Chief Executive Officer of the San Andreas DOJ. Funding was secured for a new federal building, the Vinewood Attorney Headquarters, to modernize the resources available to the fledgling state agency.
This operation however severely taxed court operations, and in 2014 Chief Justice Agosto Mercati appealed to Governor Keith Risk to end the moratorium on the San Andreas Department of Justice. Governor Risk agreed, and Mercati recommended that attorney Anthony Guidone be promoted to the position of Attorney General, and that a reorganization of the SADOJ take place. This lead to the Justice Department's structure that we know today, consisting of an Office of the Attorney General and an Office of the Chief Justice, combining all state litigation, judiciary, and legal needs under a single agency. A new division, the Office of Legislative Affairs, was added under the Office of the Attorney General in 2015. Since then, both the Chief Justice and the Attorney General have reported directly to the Office of the Governor of San Andreas.
On November 26, 2016, after over two years of service by Attorney General Anthony Guidone, the Office of the Attorney General was again reorganised, the change that spurred this reorganisation being the resignation of Attorney General Anthony Guidone. With Attorney General Guidone's resignation, Lieutenant Governor Matthew Goodman of the State of San Andreas issued an executive order, mandating that long-time Deputy Attorney General Darnell Murphy take the reigns of the Justice Department as the new Attorney General. This again saw the San Andreas Department of Justice reorganised in many ways, most notable through the creation of the new investigative and protective departments, the Office of State Investigations and Department of Special Services respectively, with the Office of State Investigations taking the place of the trialled Office of Justice Programs, and the Department of Special Services being formed out of the City Government's own Bureau of Special Services, and being mandated with more legal authority as a Justice Department entity. New internal changes also saw that the Office of the Attorney General was expanded, and two new Deputy Attorneys General were hired to the Justice Department, former police officer and head of the Office State Investigations Sophie Thyne, and the serving District Attorney, David Nadeau. Under the leadership of the new Office of the Attorney General, many more changes were brought to the SADOJ, including a new recruitment scheme in which applicants went through more thorough and transparent background checks, an overhaul of the Office of the Public Defender, and the symbiotic relationship between the Office of the District Attorney and the Office of State Investigations.
In honour of Attorney General Guidone's service, the Vinewood Attorney Headquarters was remodelled to become an office building for the Office of State Investigations and Department of Special Services, and as a part of the remodelling, was renamed the A. Guidone Building.
‣ Assistant and Deputy District Attorneys handle criminal and civil cases for or against government organizations, such as the Fire Department, Police Department, Sheriff's Department, Department of Corrections, and the Los Santos City Government, as well as prosecuting cases brought to its attention by the people of San Andreas. These cases may include allegations of corruption of public duty and office.
‣ The ODA as a whole represents the interests of the government itself.
The Office of the Public Defender provides free legal counsel, as ordered by United States Supreme Court ruling in the case of Gideon v. Wainwright, in the areas of criminal, juvenile justice, child protection, paternity, appeals, post-conviction and traffic cases. Its mission statement is to protect the fundamental rights, liberties and dignity of each person whose case has been entrusted to us by providing the finest legal representation.
For more information on the OPD and ODA, please see our Careers page.
The current Chief Justice is Alice Evans.
The Courts of San Andreas
How to become a Bar-certified attorney in the State of San Andreas:
Step 1. Apply for the Bar Exam
Future lawyers who wish to be able to practice in San Andreas must complete an application and submit it online. Before you file your application, verify that you have fully responded to all items, questions, and statements. Your application will not be considered filed if it is incomplete or contains false information.
If your application is accepted, you will be permitted to take the San Andreas Bar Examination. If your application is denied, you may be able to reapply depending on the circumstances.
Step 2. Take the Bar Exam
The San Andreas Bar Examination must be passed before a future lawyer can be admitted to practice in San Andreas. A non-refundable $50,000 fee is required. You will have 48 hours to complete the examination and return it for grading.
Step 3. Results and Admission
If you receive a sufficient score on the bar examination, you will be admitted to the State Bar of San Andreas. You will then only become fully licensed to practice in the state after reading the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) and taking an oath.
If you fail the examination, you will be able to retake it as many times as necessary with a waiting period ranging from 1-2 weeks in between each attempt.
To learn more about becoming a BAR certified attorney, please visit our State Bar Association online application system
- Regulation, training, and support of attorneys through the San Andreas Bar Association
- Free representation through the Public Defender's Office
- Criminal prosecution through the District Attorney's Office
- Civil, Criminal, and Contract hearings through the district courts.
- Consultation on state legislation, amicus briefs, and other legislative affairs
- Pro bono legal services to state agencies and the public at large
The San Andreas Department of Justice maintains four major offices in the State of San Andreas, both located within the Los Santos city limits. The A. Guidone Building has been the SADOJ's primary office area since establishing a San Andreas presence in 1978. The A. Guidone Building houses all internal offices and special operations for the SADOJ in San Andreas, including administrative offices, general archives, a fully serviced parking lot, a federally listed depository containing State case files, evidence lockers, and other long-term storage spaces. Access to the facility has been restricted to SADOJ staff and authorised visitors only as of 2014.
Facts about the A. Guidone Building
Constructed: 1978-1981
Floors: 14
Primary Materials: Concrete, Steel & Glass
Architectural Style: Brutalist Modern
Features: Office of the Attorney General, Office of the Deputy Attorneys General, Office of The District Attorney, Office of The Public Defender, Federal Depository.
Historically the Calhoun Federal Building served as an office, depository, and general archive facility for the San Andreas Superior Court and San Andreas Supreme Court for the latter half of the 20th century. When the San Andreas Department of Justice became custodian to the courts in 2014, federal funding was acquired for the creation of a secure and permanent courthouse in Los Santos to comply with Department of Homeland Security policies. The Department of Justice headquarters & offices ahve moved to A. Guidone Building to accommodate with the separation of the Judiciary and its dependence on the Justice Department.
Since Darnell Murphy was appointed Attorney General for the State of San Andreas, the Calhoun Federal Building has been named the Scalia Memorial Building—Now Scalia Memorial Courthouse, diverting from possession of the Department of Justice to the Judiciary of San Andreas.
Historically, trials and hearings took place elsewhere in San Andreas, notably at Los Santos City Hall and at one point at the now-closed Los Santos Prison Correctional Facility. Today the courts enjoy a larger, permanent space at the Scalia Memorial Building, featuring a state-of-the-art security system and newly furnished public lobby.
The Scalia Memorial Building meets DHS security policies and is staffed 24 hours a day by armed security. All visitors are subject to metal detectors and X-Ray imaging. Weapons are not permitted at the Scalia Memorial Building.
Facts about the Scalia Memorial Building
Constructed: 1956-1958 (Renovated in 2014, and again in 2016)
Floors: 8
Primary Materials: Granite and Prefabricated Concrete
Architectural Style: Art Deco Revival
Features: Federal Courthouse, Attorney Lounge, Judge Offices, District Attorney's Office, Public Defender's Office