The Trump Administration has nominated cybersecurity expert and former prosecutor Erin Nealy Cox to be the next U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.
White-collar criminal law experts praised Nealy Cox’s nomination, saying she will bring leadership and management to an office that needs it and hopefully push prosecutors to be more aggressive in pursuing financial fraud cases.
Nealy Cox, who is a senior adviser at the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and sits on the board of Dallas-based Sally Beauty Holdings, has the support of U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz. Insiders say she has closer ties to Cruz.
“If you look at Erin’s resume, she is straight out of central casting for this job,” says Dallas criminal defense attorney Dan Hagood, who has known Nealy Cox for more than a decade. “Truthfully, I can see her being groomed to be the next attorney general.”
Efforts to reach Nealy Cox were unsuccessful. She served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District from 1999 to 2004. From 2004 and 2005 she served at “Main Justice” as chief of staff and senior counsel to the Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy, returning to the Northern District in 2008.
“Erin is an excellent choice and she will provide a tremendous amount of leadership to an office that is young, talented and needs some professional guidance,” says former U.S. Attorney Matt Orwig, a partner at Winston & Strawn who serves on the committee that recommended Nealy Cox.
Orwig and others say Nealy Cox is likely to increase federal law enforcement attention on corporate crimes and financial fraud cases, which have taken a backseat to antiterrorism and anti-gun prosecutions during the past few years in the Northern District.
“There is no doubt that the Northern District has developed a reputation for being not that interested in prosecuting fraudulent financial schemes other than healthcare,” Orwig says.
Several legal experts say that they believe that Nealy Cox and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Regional Director Shamoil Shipchandler could – if they combine their resources and conduct joint investigation – reinvigorate the white-collar criminal law practice in North Texas.
“The Northern District needs someone who has experience in prosecuting complex criminal cases and makes them a priority,” says former prosecutor Ed Tomko, a lawyer at the Dykema law firm in Dallas. “The U.S. Attorney’s office here needs leadership and I hope she provides it.”
Arnold Spencer, a former white-collar criminal prosecutor and now general counsel at Coinsource, says Nealy Cox is an excellent choice because she has the three qualities needed for the job.
“Erin is a prosecutor, a leader and a manager,” Spencer says. “I think she and Shamoil will work together and will get a lot done. Both are very interested in cybersecurity issues and that is a very good thing.”
Nealy Cox previously worked at Stroz Friedberg, a cybersecurity and investigations consulting firm. She clerked for the Chief Judge Henry A. Politz of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and U.S. District Judge Barefoot Sanders. She received a bachelor’s degree in finance from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin and her law degree from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law.