On Monday, President Obama announced that he is naming W. Neil Eggleston, a veteran lawyer, as his next White House counsel. 

According to the New York Times, Eggleston has experience representing government officials in congressional and criminal investigations. 

Eggleston, 60, is a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, one of the country's largest corporate law firms. He will succeed Kathryn Ruemmler, who is stepping down after almost three years as White House counsel. Eggleston will begin his tenure the second week of May. 

"Neil brings extraordinary expertise, credentials and experience to our team," Obama said in a statement. "He has a passion for public service, is renowned for his conscientiousness and foresight, and I look forward to working closely with him in the coming years."

Eggleston was an associate White House counsel for the Clinton administration, and has frequently been hired to represent people facing questioning in regulatory, congressional and criminal investigations. 

Eggleston's appointment may be a signal from the White House that the remainder of Obama's term may be marked by legal battles over the limits of executive authority. 

Eggleston represented Obama's first chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, in 2008 when Emanuel spoke to investigators who were figuring out whether Rod Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois at the time, tried to sell Obama's Senate seat, which was soon to be vacated. 

He also represented Sara Taylor, a White House political affairs director in the George W. Bush administration, in 2007. Taylor faced questioning from a congressional oversight committee about a mass firing of U.S. attorneys as well as other Bush policies. 

Eggleston has also represented businesspeople in criminal investigations, including being the counsel for Enron's outside directors. 

Eggleston is a graduate of Duke University and the Northwestern University School of Law. He was a clerk for Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, and became a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, where be became chief appellate attorney. 

He began specializing in oversight investigations during the Iran-contra affair in the 1980s when he was the deputy chief counsel for the House committee investigating the issue. 

He later entered the private sector after working for the Clinton administration. 

In 2001, he represented Cheryl D. Mills, a board member of the Clinton presidential library foundation, during a congressional investigation into President Clinton's pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich.