There are situations where good outcomes can blossom from terrible developments. In the precipitous downfall of Eric Schneiderman Monday evening, news that Barbara Underwood, then the state solicitor general, would be taking the helm of the attorney general's office was just such a situation, according to observers familiar with her background.

“Barbara Underwood is a brilliant lawyer who has devoted her professional life to serving the criminal justice system,” New York City Corporation Counsel Zachary Carter said in a statement Tuesday. “Her north star has always been doing the right thing under all circumstances. I cannot think of a more appropriate steward for the position of NY Attorney General.”

During Carter's time as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Underwood served as his second-in-command in the chief assistant role, just one of the numerous positions in prosecutor offices that stretch from Queens to Washington, D.C., and span the most local of courtrooms to arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court.

This breadth of experience makes her almost a singularly able and desired person to run the AG's office while state legislators figure out a somewhat more permanent replacement, according to those who know Underwood.

“We're all reeling from the events of yesterday, but I can't imagine a more principled person, who is a great appellate lawyer at the same time,” Proskauer Rose partner Michael Cardozo told the New York Law Journal.

Cardozo said he'd known Underwood in a variety of capacities, most recently during their overlap while Cardozo was corporation counsel for the city under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Underwood began her tenure as solicitor general for the state.

“I have enormous respect for her,” he said. “She's a terrific person and a woman of great integrity.”

A native of Evansville, Indiana, and a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, Underwood launched her early career with two distinguished clerkships, with Chief Judge David L. Bazelon of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court.

She's served in the offices of three different district attorneys in the city—former DAs Elizabeth Holtzman and Robert Morgenthau, and Queens DA Richard Brown—before joining the Brooklyn U.S. attorney's office in the mid-1990s. That's where Covington & Burling partner Alan Vinegrad first worked with her. When Vinegrad later became interim U.S. attorney in the office, he asked her to return to the position she held under Carter.

“She was my boss for years, and then she became my chief assistant,” Vinegrad said.

There were few people more qualified to step in to guide the office as Underwood, according to Vinegrad.

“She's incredibly smart, very thoughtful, calm and measured, and I don't think there's anybody in this town who has her unparalleled experience in the prosecutorial space,” he said. “I couldn't think of a better person to take charge of the office at this critical and sensitive time.”

Before rejoining the U.S. attorney's office, Underwood took a southern detour, becoming first principal deputy solicitor general of the United States in 1998, and, beginning in 2001, acting solicitor general. She was the first woman to operate in that position. In 2007, she was named New York's solicitor general by then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, where she has remained since.

Over the years, Underwood has argued some 20 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court; taught at a number of law schools, including Yale, New York University School of Law, and Brooklyn Law School; and served as chairwoman of the New York City Bar Association's executive committee.

In her first statement as acting attorney general, issued just after noon, Underwood said she was honored to be able to lead the office.

“The work of this office is critically important,” she said. “Our office has never been stronger, and this extraordinarily talented, dedicated, and tireless team of public servants will ensure that our work continues without interruption.”

For those who know her, such as Flemming Zulack Williamson Zauderer name attorney Mark Zauderer, they would expect nothing less from an office with Underwood at the helm.

“Barbara is a highly respected appellate lawyer who is universally regarded as a first class advocate,” Zauderer said in a statement. “Even in high profile cases with political overtones, she always conducts her advocacy on a high intellectual level, a style that is very much appreciated by the Court. She is a very formidable adversary.”