Suʻa Hellene Wallwork-Lamb is a

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 ...

n lawyer and jurist. Since September 2021 she has been

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 ...

. Wallwork is from

Lefaga Lefaga is a village district on the south west coast of the island of Upolu in Samoa. The American movie Return to Paradise (1953 film), Return to Paradise (1953), starring Gary Cooper was filmed at Matautu village (Lefaga), Matautu village in Lefa ...

and was educated at the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

. After working in the Office of the Attorney-General, she returned to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, where she worked for the New Zealand Police and the

Commerce Commission The Commerce Commission () (sometimes shortened to ComCom) is a New Zealand government agency with responsibility for enforcing legislation that relates to competition in the country's markets, fair trading and consumer credit contracts, and r ...

and in private practice. In 2013 she returned to Samoa and established a law firm with her husband. In April 2016 she was appointed

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

's Honorary Consul in Samoa. In March 2017 she was elected President of the Samoa Law Society. She served as vice-president for the next three years, and was elected president again in 2021. As Vice-president of the society she fronted the society's submissions during the

2021 Samoan constitutional crisis A constitutional crisis began in Samoa on 22 May 2021 when O le Ao o le Malo (Head of State) Tuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi II issued a proclamation purporting to prevent the Legislative Assembly from meeting in the wake of the gen ...

, criticising ''

O le Ao o le Malo The Independent State of Samoa ( Samoan for "Chief of the government") is the ceremonial head of state of Samoa. The position is described in Part III of the 1960 Samoan constitution. At the time the constitution was adopted, it was anticipa ...

Tuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi II Afioga Tuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Eti Sualauvi II (born 29 April 1947) is a Samoan politician who is the current O le Ao o le Malo (head of state) of Samoa, in office since 2017. Biography He is a great-grandson of one of the Mau movement ...

's attempt to stop parliament from meeting and the

Human Rights Protection Party The Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP, ) is a Samoan political party. It was founded in 1979 and dominated Samoan party politics for decades thereafter, leading every government until their defeat in 2021. Former Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele ...

's post-crisis attacks on the judiciary. She was appointed interim Attorney-General of Samoa on 4 September 2021, following the dismissal of Savalenoa Mareva Betham Annandale for failing to defend the judiciary. She was sworn in on 8 September 2021. Cabinet appointed Wallwork to a full term three-year term on 22 December 2022. She was awarded the title of Suʻa by her village in 2008. In December 2022 she was named one of the ''

Samoa Observer The ''Samoa Observer'' is the largest newspaper group in Samoa published in both English and Samoan. The ''Samoa Observer'' is published Monday to Friday, the ''Weekend Observer'' on Saturdays and the ''Sunday Samoan'' on Sundays with all editi ...

s people of the year.

Notes

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from A'ana Samoan lawyers Attorneys general of Samoa University of Auckland alumni 21st-century women lawyers {{Samoa-bio-stub