A Washington, D.C., attorney with roots in Texas has been appointed as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, to replace Joseph Brown, who announced his resignation Tuesday.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced Wednesday that he appointed Stephen J. Cox to serve in the position, starting June 1. That coincides with the last day of May 31 for Brown, who left to pursue opportunities in the private and public sectors.

Cox is the deputy associate attorney general, and chief of staff in the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Associate Attorney General. He has worked on public policy about corporate enforcement and regulatory reform, financial fraud and health care fraud.

"Steve's vast experience in areas ranging from regulatory reform to fraud to corporate compliance, and his reputation for fairness, sound judgment and management will serve him well in Eastern Texas," said Barr in a statement.

Cox, who didn't immediately return a message seeking comment, has Texas roots. He earned his law degree from the University of Houston Law Center in 2006, said his LinkedIn profile.

Cox has moved between public and private sector employment in both Washington, D.C., and Houston. In his government employment, he's held legal policy roles in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigations. As a senior associate with Wilmer Cutler PIckering Hale & Dorr from 2008 to 2011, Cox represented BP for congressional investigations over the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion. He went in-house from 2011 to 2017 with Apache Corp. in Houston, where he helped develop an anti-corruption compliance program.

Vinson & Elkins partner Pat Mizell of Houston said he has known Cox for 25 years, and thinks the lawyer would make a great U.S. attorney.

"I think he's a smart guy. He's very thoughtful in the way he approaches legal issues. Very careful in the way he conducts himself. He's got a pretty wide range of experience both in private practice and being in-house at Apache, and government service," Mizell explained. "All three of those, I think, are a pretty good basis for doing public service as the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District."

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No Prosecution Experience

What's missing from Cox's resume is experience with criminal law. He hasn't worked as a prosecutor, unlike the past two U.S. attorneys in that district—Malcolm Bell and Brown—who were both career prosecutors.

Lum Hawthorn, a Beaumont solo practitioner who practices in the Eastern District, said that the U.S. attorney role is mainly an administrative job, and doesn't involve trying cases, but it's still good for the office holder to have prosecution experience.

"I have found it's awfully helpful if the U.S. attorney has some trial experience, so he can identify with some of the problems his prosecutors may be facing in litigation, or civil lawyers may be facing in litigation, and have an appreciation of that," Hawthorn said.

He said that a U.S. attorney without that key experience may find a lack of respect from the line prosecutors in the office.

Nacogdoches solo practitioner Rey Morin, who worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the district for 12 years and now represents criminal defendants, said that the office mainly prosecutes violent crimes and drug trafficking cases. Although criminal law experience isn't 100% necessary to be the U.S. attorney, it's a good qualification to have, he said.

"It certainly makes it easier for someone to run the office, and to direct individuals in that office. He also has a criminal chief, and a civil chief, who work underneath him," Morin said. "The criminal chief is an experienced prosecutor."

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