Securities lawyer Craig Carpenito has emerged as the front-runner for the job of U.S. attorney in the District of New Jersey, according to sources familiar with the search process. Carpenito came under consideration for the job after Geoffrey Berman, a Greenberg Traurig lawyer previously the favorite, became a candidate for the job of U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, those sources said.
The candidacy of Carpenito, a lawyer at Alston & Bird in New York, as New Jersey’s top federal law enforcer is supported by Gov. Chris Christie. The two were colleagues when Christie was U.S. attorney for New Jersey, and Carpenito defended Christie from a citizen’s complaint accusing him of official misconduct in connection with the Bridgegate scandal.
