The Senate Sergeant-at-Arms announced Wednesday that Lynne Halbrooks will serve as the office’s new deputy.

Halbrooks, 41, replaces J. Keith Kennedy, who moved to the Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this year to be the panel’s staff director.

“She will be a great addition to the executive management team of the Sergeant-at-Arms organization,” Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Bill Pickle said through a spokeswoman. Although Halbrooks will serve at the pleasure of leadership, the deputy SAA does not require confirmation.

“She enjoys bipartisan support as evidenced by the accolades she received from both Republicans and Democrats during the memo-gate investigation,” Pickle added, referring to the 2004 investigation into the leaking of internal Democratic memorandums from the Judiciary Committee. “We’re delighted to have her on board in this new position.”

Halbrooks joined the Sergeant-at-Arms office in May 2003 as general counsel, after serving as deputy counsel to the director of the Justice Department’s executive office for U.S. attorneys. The Aitkin, Minn., native spent nearly a decade with the Justice Department, serving in a variety of posts.

She began her career in 1988, serving as a law clerk in the Minnesota Supreme Court, before joining the Milwaukee-based law firm Hinshaw & Culbertson in 1989. Halbrooks went on to serve as an assistant U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Wisconsin.

A 1985 graduate of the University of Minnesota, Halbrooks holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and philosophy. She received her law degree from Marquette University in 1988.