Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro, it’s safe to say, did not conduct an exhaustive search for his top legal adviser as governor.Shapiro announced Tuesday he will appoint Executive Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Selber to serve as his General Counsel, essentially the governor’s top legal advisor on policy and administration matters, and traditionally one of the key figures on any governor’s senior staff.
Selber’s appointment is a bit unusual in that she has spent almost her entire career as a lawyer in criminal law, and specifically in homicide prosecutions. Prosecution of criminal cases, meanwhile, is about the only aspect of law that a governor’s general counsel will never be involved in. And then, she was suddenly top manager of a portfolio that included drug crimes, public corruption, child pornography, environmental crimes, insurance fraud and much, much more - not to mention supervising grand jury investigations.
She is also pleased to continue her relationship with Shapiro, who Selber said she did not know at the time she joined the Attorney General’s staff, but with whom she now has a relationship “built on mutual respect and trust, and we understand each other very well.”