http://www.formsofaddress.info/Postmaster_General.html
http://www.formsofaddress.info/attorney_general.html
Some discussion here in which it is mentioned that in court, an attorney general may sometimes be referred to as “General” but not outside. It’s not a matter of rank but of ease of identification. See below, from the link:
Is an Attorney General Addressed as “General”?
General is a military rank and form of address of a person holding that rank. Why do some journalists (print and broadcast) address the Attorney General (US and state) as General? Isnt this grammatically incorrect in that in the title Attorney General, the word general is an adjective modifying/limiting the noun attorney?
— R. F.
Dear R. F.:
Attorneys confirm that attorneys general and solicitors general are addressed and referred to as General (Surname) in courtroom settings. He says in federal and state supreme and appellate court proceedings you will see references in court documents to attorney generals as General (Surname). This makes sense
A law librarian at the Library of Congress did some research on this at my request and confirms in oral arguments, court documents record the Attorney General and Solicitor General as “Gen. (full name), Esq.”
UPDATE: I’ve heard from a the offices of three state attorneys general, and to quote the Executive Assistant of the Attorney General of Montana: “Your e-mail asks a number of questions regarding the preferred form of address for the current Montana Attorney General. Dear Mr. Bullock is the commonly-used and accepted form of address for the current attorney general, in any situation. General is rarely used, and then by those who are not aware of our customary practice.”
To me it seems that addressing an attorney general as “General (Name)” an an internal practice within the legal profession. It makes sense in the context of a courtroom to identify the role of an Attorney General in some concise way to separate him from others addressed “Mr.”. But outside the courtroom when (as happens in DC pretty often) there are Army, Marine Corp, and Air Force Generals in the room — it doesnt. Further there is a wide range of offices with general duties
Solicitor general, surgeon general, inspector general
. None of them is ever addressed as General
UPDATE: Got an e-mail from WD noting that the plural of attorney general in the dictionary is not attorney generals but is attorneys general ... emphasizing that the office is that of an attorney, and general is an adjective describing the attorney with a broad range of duties for the state. Thus there is no way they would be generals. He also noted I’d been careless in those spellings in my posting (he was right) so I corrected the spellings.
— Robert Hickey
Attorney General? Attorney Specific?
Regarding your discussion of Attorney General and how to address him/her, as recall, back in the old days, in England, the Attorney General handled general legal matters, as opposed to specific legal matters; so, we might have an Attorney General and an Attorney Specific; but you wouldn’t address the Attorney Specific as Dear Specific Smith. Hence, I agree with you, the address should be Dear Attorney General Smith. NOT Dear General Smith. Thank you.
— TAC
Is a State Attorney General “the Honorable”?
I am writing a letter to the State Attorney General. I noticed on your website that you address the US Attorney General as the Honorable. Do you do the same for the State Attorney General?
— Vincent Hall
Dear Mr. Hall:
Yes ... High officials appointed by governors of the US states are also addressed as “the Honorable.”
— Robert Hickey
So, when you’re in court, feel free to refer to the Attorney General as “General”. I wouldn’t, but it wouldn’t be a total faux pas, just a confusing use of the term.
BTW, the plural is "Attorneys General".