Frank Rich Lindh, a PG&E Co. attorney who may be best known as the father of so-called American Taliban John Walker Lindh, was named general counsel of the California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday.

A former social worker, Lindh worked at private firms in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco and as an appellate attorney at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission before joining Pacific Gas Transmission Co. as general counsel in 1996. He joined PG&E in 1998.