Special Counsel Represents Texas Firm in Washington, D.C. Office Elizabeth Leoty Craddock. Photo credit: Gittings Photography.

Special Counsel Represents Texas Firm in Washington, D.C., Office

Jones Walker announced that Elizabeth "Liz" Leoty Craddock, the first woman to serve as majority staff director of the Senate Energy Committee, has joined the firm as special counsel in the Washington, D.C., office. She serves as a member of the government relations team.

Craddock's work with the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and her time as the legislative director for U.S. Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, D-Louisiana, demonstrate her success in helping corporations, industry organizations, trade groups and nonprofit entities work with elected and appointed officials to develop, negotiate and pass legislation critical to the success of the U.S. economy. Among her many accomplishments, she helped secure the bicameral passage of a package of 80-plus public lands bills that had been blocked by more than three Congresses and were successfully included as part of the National Defense Reauthorization Act of 2014. As legislative director and counsel to Landrieu, she played a key role in the passage of the bipartisan Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast (RESTORE) Act of 2012 and, previously, the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA). These and other pieces of high-profile, high-impact legislation have directed billions of dollars to projects in Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states. Her areas of focus include energy, environmental, natural resources, agriculture, climate change and trade policy. After her tenure in the U.S. Senate, Craddock served as the vice president of Government and Industry Affairs at the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC), where she created, developed and implemented programs and strategies at the state and federal levels.

"I am honored and excited to join the government relations team at Jones Walker and to embark on the next professional chapter of my career." said Craddock, in a statement by the firm. "After spending a decade in the Senate, focusing on issues of importance to Louisiana, and then working on behalf of many energy companies along the Gulf Coast at IADC, I am thrilled to take these experiences to benefit the firm's clients. In many ways, joining Jones Walker is a homecoming for me, bringing me back to my Louisiana roots."