BRENT WEBSTER: First Assistant Attorney General
Brent Webster was appointed by Ken Paxton to be First Assistant Attorney General in 2020. Brent brings leadership experience and an aggressive and strategic approach to litigation.

Prior to joining the Attorney General's Office, Webster served as a criminal prosecutor in Texas for 10 years, also serving as the First Assistant District Attorney in Williamson County. As a Williamson County Assistant District Attorney, he was awarded the “Crime Victim Advocate Hall of Fame Award” for outstanding service to crime victims.

Since leaving the Williamson County District Attorney’s office, Webster has served as a civil litigator and as a criminal defense attorney in private practice. He also recently served as Chief Operations Officer and General Counsel at a start-up in Austin, rapidly scaling the business.

Webster received his undergraduate education at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas graduating in 2003, and received his legal education at University of Houston Law Center in 2005. He is licensed to practice law by the state of Texas and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, and the federal district courts in the Western, Southern, and Northern districts of Texas.

GRANT DORFMAN: Deputy First Assistant Attorney General
Grant Dorfman has joined the agency as Deputy First Assistant Attorney General. Judge Dorfman, who graduated from the Yale Law School, previously clerked for the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals before taking the role of partner in a commercial litigation firm. He then served as a judge for the 129th District Court in Houston, oversaw world-wide litigation as Senior Counsel for an oil and gas drilling contractor, and was again selected to serve as a judge for the 334th District Court in Houston.

Judge Dorfman is currently a member of the Houston Bar Association, Houston Bar Foundation, American Law Institute and the Federalist Society. Prior to attending Yale, he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Honors History from Brown University and a Master of Studies in History and Political Philosophy from Oxford University.

LESLEY FRENCH: Chief of Staff
Lesley French, formerly General Counsel and Chief of the General Counsel Division, came to the OAG in 2019 after serving as Deputy Executive Commissioner at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission where she oversaw 40 health programs for the state. She also previously served as legislative director, committee director, and general counsel to several members and committees of the Texas House of Representatives. Lesley graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and earned her law degree from Regent University School of Law.

SHAWN COWLES: Deputy Attorney General for Civil Litigation

Shawn Cowles, formerly a member of the Special Litigation Unit where he worked on the Bastrop fire litigation, also joined the OAG in 2019. He previously worked for twenty-six years as a business litigation attorney and was named “Super Lawyer” in Southern California where he represented Fortune 500 companies with a proven track record of success in the courtroom. Shawn graduated from Pepperdine University and earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia.

JOSH RENO: Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice

Josh Reno, is a graduate of the Texas Tech School of Law, and serves as Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice. Mr. Reno has served as an Assistant District Attorney in Williamson and Lubbock County and, during his time as a Prosecutor, he built a record of outstanding litigation and was awarded Lubbock County District Attorney’s Prosecutor of the Year in 2010. While recently serving in the Travis County District Attorney’s Office with the White Collar Crimes Unit, Mr. Reno was hand-selected to create the Criminal Enterprise and Trafficking Unit. Across the entire state, he has been a strong voice for victims in presenting their cases to juries and prosecuted several cases involving human trafficking, capital murder, sexual assault of a child, and a plethora of other serious crimes.

AARON REITZ: Deputy Attorney General for Legal Strategy

Aaron Reitz has been promoted to Deputy Attorney General for Legal Strategy. Mr. Reitz graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Texas A&M University, where he was a Regimental Commander in the Corps of Cadets. After graduating, he commissioned as an officer in the United States Marine Corps and married his high school sweetheart, Meredith. He spent nearly five years on active duty and deployed to the northern Helmand Province of Afghanistan.

After the Marines, Mr. Reitz attended the University of Texas School of Law, where he served as President of the Texas Federalist Society and Editor in Chief of the Texas Review of Law & Politics. He began his career at Bracewell LLP in Houston and then clerked for Justice Jimmy Blacklock on the Texas Supreme Court. Meanwhile, he completed fellowships with the John Jay Institute, Alliance Defending Freedom, Claremont Institute, and James Wilson Institute. Before joining the Office of the Attorney General, he litigated commercial disputes in private practice.

JUDD STONE: Solicitor General
Before joining the Texas Attorney General’s Office in 2020, Judd Stone was Chief Counsel for Senator Ted Cruz, and previously practiced at Morgan, Lewis, and Bockius in their Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Group in Washington. D.C., and at Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick. He also served as an Olin-Searle-Smith fellow at Harvard Law School.

Stone began his legal career as a law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court, to then-Chief Judge Edith Jones on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and for Justice Daniel Winfree on the Alaska Supreme Court. He received his law degree from Northwestern University and his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas, Dallas.

D. Forrest Brumbaugh: Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel

Forrest Brumbaugh joined the Texas Attorney General’s Office in July 2022.  Forrest has over 28 years of experience in the private sector. He was named shareholder at one of Texas’s leading law firms, Winstead Sechrest & Minick less than seven years after graduating law school.  In 2004, he became a partner at Fulbright & Jaworski, now Norton Rose Fulbright, one of the 15 largest law firms in the world.  Forrest graduated from University Evansville and earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia.