California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has chosen from the ranks of his office to find his next appellate practice leader.

Michael Mongan, a supervising deputy solicitor general in Becerra's office for the last five years, will assume the title of solicitor general next month. Mongan, who clerked for Justice David Souter of the U.S. Supreme Court, fills the role held by Edward DuMont, the former Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr partner who said in January he was leaving the attorney general's office after nearly six years in the post.

Mongan will take the reins of a 10-attorney office that plays a lead role in crafting California's legal strategy in response to Trump administration policies. The state has filed more than four dozen legal actions against the federal government since President Donald Trump took office in 2017.