Legal Opinions of the Attorney General
Submitting Opinion Requests
Only those designated by law may request an Attorney General’s legal opinion. To learn more, see FAQs: Who may request an Attorney General's opinion?
State and local public officials and government agencies authorized to request an opinion should submit their legal questions to:
Susan Lee, Supervising Deputy Attorney General
Opinion Unit
455 Golden Gate Ave., Suite 11000
San Francisco, CA 94102
As the chief law officer of the state, the California Attorney General provides legal opinions upon request to designated state and local public officials and government agencies on issues arising in the course of their duties. The formal legal opinions of the Attorney General have been accorded "great respect" and "great weight" by the courts.
Legal opinions of the Attorney General issued since 1986 may be viewed on this website and searched using the online search links below. In addition to searching opinions by year and by key words or phrases, you may now search for opinions by specific citations.
- Monthly Opinion Report - View the current report of pending assignments and activities of the Opinion Unit with links to newly issued opinions.
- Yearly Index - View yearly indexes since 1997 with links to opinions published in a particular year.
- Opinions Search - Search opinions issued since 1986 by word, phrase or opinion number (e.g., 01-107).
A copy of a published opinion may also be obtained by contacting the California Attorney General, Opinion Unit, P. O. Box 944255, Sacramento, CA 94244-2550.
Printed volumes of "Opinions of the Attorney General of California" are published by Lexis Publishing and may be read in public libraries.