A Florida lawyer might become the next federal judge.

President Donald Trump intends to nominate Assistant U.S. Attorney Aileen Mercedes Cannon to serve as a federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Cannon serves in the criminal division of the appellate section of the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Florida, Miami office, where she represents the federal government before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Before Cannon was prosecuting federal firearms, narcotics, immigration and fraud offenses, she practiced law for two and a half years as an attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington, D.C., where former colleagues were impressed by her talent.

John H. Sturc is a retired partner at the firm, where he was a co-chair of its Securities Enforcement Practice Group. He serves as a professor at The George Washington University Law School.

Sturc remembers Cannon displayed an impressive work ethic.

"So tireless that I was concerned she was working too hard, that I ordered her to leave the office one day because I said 'you can't keep this up,' " Sturc said. " It was really all because she believed in the client and the client did prevail."

Sturc recalls an instant where four or five lawyers were working on a briefing, and the team wanted to make sure it made no errors.

"But, at some point, somebody did a spell check on it and the word 'scapegoat' got changed to 'spacegoat,'" Sturc said. "That's how the document got filed, and she just picked it up and was horrified."

The team quickly filed a corrected brief, and nothing ever came of the minor error. But Sturc says the incident was "indicative of her care and precision she applied to her work."

Before working at Gibson Dunn, Cannon was a law clerk for U.S. Circuit Judge Steven M. Colloton of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. The judge was an appointee of former President George W. Bush. At one time, the conservative judge was on the president's shortlist for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Prior to serving as a law clerk, Cannon graduated from the University of Michigan Law School. She earned her undergraduate degree from Duke University.

Jason J. Mendro, a partner at Gibson Dunn, worked closely with Cannon on securities litigation. Mendro says Cannon was especially good at working challenging cases, and said he is thrilled about the prospect of her becoming a federal judge in the state where he grew up.

"She is a great thinker and a great person," Mendro said. "And that is exactly what all of us should be looking for in judges: somebody who has the ability and dedication to figure out the answer to complex questions, and the demeanor to be fair, pleasant and just. Aileen demonstrates all those qualities in spades."