Attorney General Ken Paxton announced several promotions on his senior staff, naming Darren McCarty as deputy attorney general for civil litigation and Amanda Cochran-McCall as division chief of general litigation.
McCarty joined the attorney general’s office in 2017 as special counsel. He has led the defense of Texas in some of its most difficult trials, including Senate Bill 4, the law banning sanctuary cities. McCarty fills a role vacated by Jim Davis, who is leaving to become vice president for legal affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.
Cochran-McCall previously served as associate deputy attorney general for civil litigation and deputy chief of the general litigation division. She worked in a prominent Austin law firm after starting her career in the attorney general’s office in 2008 as a law clerk and assistant attorney general. Among her many contributions to Texas, Cochran-McCall has been a key member of Attorney General Paxton’s executive team and a leader on many trial teams working on the state’s most significant legal matters.
In addition to the two promotions, Attorney General Paxton announced that he rehired Rudy Montoya in his former capacity as Chief Information Officer. Montoya retired earlier this year after spending his entire career in the attorney general’s office, starting in 1998 as an intern.