PRIME Minister Portia Simpson Miller has said that a new attorney general will be named this week.

The prime minister made the disclosure on Sunday in response to questions from the Observer following a church service at the Portmore New Testament Church of God, which was attended by the newly appointed Government ministers.

Jamaica has been without an attorney general since last week after Ransford Braham resigned the post following the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) loss in the December 29 general elections. Braham was appointed under the Bruce Golding-led administration in July and took up office on August 8.

On Sunday, Simpson Miller did not give a hint as to whom the next AG will be but the Observer has been reliably informed that veteran defence attorney and newly elected Member of Parliament for North Trelawny Patrick Atkinson, QC, has been tipped for the position.

Atkinson comes to the post with just over 40 years’ experience at the bar, 18-and-a-half of which were spent practising in the United States. In the US, Atkinson held several managerial positions and has been recognised for his service as an outstanding defence attorney.

In Jamaica, the fiery attorney has worked several big cases, among them the Green Bay killings. He also featured prominently at the Dudus/Manatt Commission of Enquiry, which many believed played a role in the JLP’s loss at the polls.

He is currently one of the defence attorneys in the Cuban light bulb trial, involving former PNP junior minister, Kern Spencer; appears in the Trafigura case now before the Supreme Court and represents businessman Patrick Powell in the so-called X-6 killing case.