David Lopez was sworn in Thursday as general counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). A 15-year veteran of the agency, he is the first EEOC general counsel to be selected from the ranks of field attorneys. For the past 12 years he has been a senior attorney in the agency's Phoenix District Office.

President Obama used his power of recess appointment on March 27 to place Lopez in the post, along with other EEOC officials including Chair Jacqueline Berrien, who was sworn in Wednesday. Berrien formerly was Associate Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). Also sworn in Wednesday as an EEOC commissioner was Chai Feldblum, a Georgetown University Law Center professor and gay rights advocate.