Jenny Durkan is (we presume) moving on to bigger and better things! Last month, she revealed she'd be stepping down as the DOJ's top attorney in Western Washington. And it was suggested that she might be angling for a position with Hillary Clinton or, once Attorney General Eric Holder announced his resignation, that she might replace him.

But who will replace Durkan in our neck of the woods, pending presidential appointment and confirmation? Her number two in command: Annette L. Hayes. Hayes is an Assistant US Attorney who joined the office way back in 1997. Her full bio is below the jump, but a quick Google search reveals one interesting highlight of her career: traveling to Iraq in 2008 to investigate an alleged murder by a Blackwater private security guard.

Welcome aboard, Hayes. Among other things, she'll be overseeing the federally-mandated reform process at the Seattle Police Department and, we hope, not putting any more anarchists in prison for what seem to be political reasons.

The Executive Office of United States Attorneys has selected Annette L. Hayes to serve as Acting United States Attorney pending the appointment and confirmation of a presidentially appointed United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington. Ms. Hayes has served as the First Assistant United States Attorney since 2010. In that role she has been second-in-command of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and a key leader in both criminal and civil litigation in the office. Ms. Hayes takes over from Jenny A. Durkan, who stepped down yesterday.

Annette L. Hayes joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 1997 as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division. She was assigned to prosecute a range of drug cases including large-scale, international trafficking and cartel related cases. In 2002, she became the Deputy Supervisor of the Complex Crimes Unit where she prosecuted cyber hacking and intellectual property cases while working with law enforcement on outreach to the private sector. In 2005, she became one of the supervisors of the General Crimes Unit where she worked closely with and trained many new attorneys on a range of federal crimes including child exploitation, drug, fraud, identity theft, immigration and violent crimes cases.

Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Ms. Hayes spent her first six years as an attorney handling a variety of civil litigation matters at law firms in Seattle and Washington, D.C.

Ms. Hayes is a graduate of Cornell Law School and Williams College.