FERC Chairman Norman Bay named a long-time associate from New Mexico as FERC general counsel, replacing David Morenoff.

Max Minzer, who served as Bay’s special counsel in 2009-10 when the latter headed FERC’s Office of Enforcement, joined the chairman’s staff as an advisor in June.

Minzer’s appointment means Morenoff, appointed general counsel by former Chairman Cheryl LaFleur last September, will return to his former post as deputy general counsel. (See LaFleur Puts Stamp on FERC with Appointments.)

Minzer met Bay while working as a law clerk at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Mexico almost 20 years ago. Bay was U.S. Attorney for New Mexico in 2000-01 after serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in D.C. and New Mexico from 1989 to 2000.

Like Bay, Minzer is a former professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law, where he won the university’s 2013-2015 Presidential Teaching Fellowship, an award recognizing teaching excellence. He previously taught at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York. A graduate of Brown University and Yale Law School, Minzer has been published in the Harvard Law Review, the Texas Law Review and the William & Mary Law Review.

Bay praised Morenoff even as he moved him aside. “It is a testament to the high regard in which David is held that he is one of the few general counsels who has served three different chairmen as either the acting general counsel or as general counsel,” Bay said in a statement.

Morenoff, who joined FERC from Troutman Sanders, formerly served as a legislative aide to U.S. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.). He is a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School. In addition to his work in the general counsel’s office, he also served as senior legal and policy advisor to former Chairman Jon Wellinghoff.

— Rich Heidorn Jr.