Deputy Attorney General James Cole has tapped the former No. 2 official in the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office as his chief of staff.

Stuart Goldberg receives an award during the 2010 Executive Office for United States Attorneys Director’s Awards Ceremony. (photo by Andrew Ramonas / Main Justice)

Stuart Goldberg, who was Maryland’s First Assistant U.S. Attorney from 2005 to 2010, was introduced to staff members in the Deputy Attorney General’s office as the chief of staff to Cole on Jan. 3. Cole was sworn in that day as the second highest-ranking official at the Justice Department through a recess appointment by President Barack Obama. Goldberg and Cole worked together in the DOJ Criminal Division Public Integrity Section during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein announced on Tuesday that Stephen Schenning, a 19-year veteran of the Baltimore-based U.S. Attorney’s office, has succeeded Goldberg as First Assistant U.S. Attorney. He previously held that post from 1997 to 2001.

Rosenstein on Monday praised Goldberg for his service to the U.S. Attorney’s office, noting that the DOJ lawyer received an award at the 2010 Executive Office for United States Attorneys Director’s Awards Ceremony. The executive office honored Goldberg for his efforts to strengthen the Maryland office’s relationships with state and local law enforcement agencies, improve his office’s reputation and boost office morale.

“When you consult Stuart Goldberg, you know the advice you get will be straight, wise and nonpartisan,” said Rosenstein, whom President George W. Bush appointed in 2005. “He has superb judgment, outstanding legal skills and extensive managerial experience.”

Goldberg joined the DOJ in 1988, after a six-year stint as a civil litigator at Rogers & Wells LLP, which merged with London-based Clifford Chance LLP in 2000.

At the DOJ, he first was assigned to the Public Integrity Section as a Trial Attorney. He was promoted in the section to Senior Litigation Counsel in 1992 and Deputy Chief for Litigation in 1999. Goldberg became the section’s Principal Deputy Chief in 2002.

He has taught professional responsibility as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and public corruption and other criminal matters at the DOJ’s National Advocacy Center.

Goldberg received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia in 1979. Harvard University awarded him his law degree in 1982.

Two Assistant U.S. Attorneys and two prosecutors from Justice Department headquarters are joining the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, a DOJ representative told Main Justice Friday.

They are:

- James Dinan, who will serve as the Director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Program and an Associate Deputy Attorney General. He previously was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in D.C. for more than two decades, serving most recently as the office’s Criminal Division chief.

- Debbie Johnston, who will be an Associate Deputy Attorney General, focusing on law enforcement and criminal issues. She is on detail from the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, where she has served for 15 years. She is a Senior Litigation Counsel in the office.

- David O’Neil, who will serve as Associate Deputy Attorney General, focusing on criminal issues and national security. He most recently was an Assistant to the Solicitor General, providing advice on national security litigation and arguing cases in the Supreme Court.

- Armando Bonilla, who will be a Senior Counsel, focusing on criminal issues, computer forensics and information technology. He will also serve as the Government Accountability Office audit liaison. Bonilla previously served in the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, where he was a Trial Attorney.

Lisa Monaco, a former federal prosecutor and chief of staff to FBI Director Robert Mueller III, has been named acting Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, one of several moves in the management office following the recent departure of Deputy Attorney General David Ogden, the Justice Department said.

Monaco joined the DAG’s office in January 2009 as an Associate Deputy Attorney General with a focus on national security. She replaces Kathryn Ruemmler, who moved to the White House in December as deputy counsel to President Barack Obama. Donald Verrilli Jr., a veteran appellate attorney, also left ODAG last month to become senior counsel to Obama, a White House spokesman said. Verrilli was co-chair of Jenner & Block LLP’s appellate and Supreme Court practice before joining the department as an Associate Deputy Attorney General in February 2009.

Ogden stepped down as Deputy Attorney General, the department’s No. 2 position, in February after less than a year on the job. (He has since rejoined the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP.) Officials said his resignation was prompted by disagreements between Ogden and Attorney General Eric Holder over management of the department.

Holder appointed Gary Grindler to replace Ogden in an acting capacity, though he has been mentioned as a potential nominee for the Deputy post. Grindler, a veteran of the Clinton administration, rejoined the Justice Department last year as a top official in the Criminal Division.

His new Chief of Staff (and Counselor) is Stacey Luck, who most recently served as Senior Counsel to Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer in the Criminal Division. Ogden’s Chief of Staff, Stuart Delery, has shifted into an Associate Deputy Attorney General slot, where he will concentrate on civil and appellate matters.

Matthew Olsen, the Executive Director of the Guantanamo Review Task Force and a former lawyer in the National Security Division, has been appointed Associate Deputy Attorney General and will handle national security and criminal matters.

Grindler said the new additions would round out an “outstanding team,” which includes career Associate Deputy Attorneys General David Margolis and Scott Schools.

“Their experience and vision will be instrumental in fulfilling the responsibilities of this office to advise and assist the Attorney General in implementing the Department’s policies and objectives,” Grindler said in a statement.