Lemalu Hermann Retzlaff is a

Samoan New Zealander Samoan New Zealanders are Samoan immigrants in New Zealand, their descendants, and New Zealanders of Samoan ethnic descent. They constitute one of New Zealand's most sizeable ethnic minorities. In the 2018 census, 182,721 New Zealanders identifie ...

lawyer. He served as

Attorney-General of Samoa The attorney-general of Samoa is a constitutional and legal officer in Samoa, responsible for advising the government on legal matters and bringing criminal proceedings. The current attorney-general is Suʻa Hellene Wallwork. The attorney-genera ...

from 2016 to 2020. He is the son of former attorney-general and deputy prime minister Misa Telefoni Retzlaff.

Early life and career

Retzlaff was born in

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

and was educated at Apia Primary and Leifiifi Intermediate Schools. From 2001 he worked as a commercial law lecturer at the

National University of Samoa The National University of Samoa () is the only national university in Samoa. Established in 1984 by an act of parliament, it is coeducational and provides certificate, diploma, and undergraduate degree programs, as well as technical and vocationa ...

before moving to New Zealand to work as a Crown Prosecutor. He was later a solicitor with the New Zealand Ministry of Justice's Public Defence Service. For two terms he was president of New Zealand's Pacific Law Association. In the

2014 New Zealand general election The 2014 New Zealand general election took place on Saturday 20 September 2014 to determine the membership of the 51st New Zealand Parliament. Voters elected 121 members to the New Zealand House of Representatives, House of Representatives, wi ...

he stood as a candidate for the

New Zealand Labour Party The New Zealand Labour Party, also known simply as Labour (), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers descri ...

in the newly-created electorate of

Upper Harbour Upper Harbour may refer to these various places in New Zealand: *Upper Harbour Bridge *Upper Harbour Local Board *Upper Harbour Motorway *Upper Harbour (New Zealand electorate) Upper Harbour is a parliamentary electorate in Auckland that returns ...

, losing to

Paula Bennett Paula Lee Bennett (born 9 April 1969) is a New Zealand former politician who served as the 18th deputy prime minister of New Zealand between December 2016 and October 2017. She served as the deputy leader of the National Party from 2016 to 2020 ...

Attorney-General

In March 2016 he was appointed

. Shortly after taking the role Director of Public Prosecutions Mauga Precious Chang was charged with dangerous driving, and police chief Fuiavailili Egon Keil was suspended and charged with unlawful detention. Lemalu hired lawyers from New Zealand to oversee the prosecutions, a decision which was contested by the National prosecution Office. He was also responsible for the assault prosecution of Lands and Titles Court president Fepulea'i Attila Ropati and the subsequent appeal which led to his conviction. In July 2019 his contract as attorney-general was extended. In February 2020 he resigned as attorney-general in order to take up a position as a crown solicitor in New Zealand. He was replaced as attorney-general by Savalenoa Mareva Betham Annandale. Following his resignation he spoke out in support of the controversial

Land and Titles Bill The Land and Titles Bill is one of three bills passed by the Legislative Assembly of Samoa to reform the legal framework around the Land and Titles Court of Samoa and Samoan customary law. The bills are viewed by some as undermining Human rights i ...

s, which were then before Samoa's parliament. In 2022 Lemalu was appointed the Public Defender Waitakere within the New Zealand Ministry of Justice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Retzlaff, Lemalu Herman Living people Samoan expatriates in New Zealand Samoan lawyers 21st-century New Zealand lawyers Academic staff of the National University of Samoa Attorneys general of Samoa Year of birth missing (living people)