Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-California, has appointed an openly gay former FCC and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld attorney with ties to conservative legal groups to the House general counsel post.

Matthew Berry spent just over a year at Akin Gump after leaving the FCC where he worked for more than a decade and a half. His prior work includes a stint as staff attorney at the Institute for Justice, a failed Congressional campaign bid and high-profile clerkships under conservative judges.