Factbox: Possible successors to U.S. Attorney General Holder

(Reuters) - Attorney General Eric Holder will announce his resignation on Thursday after nearly six years as the top U.S. law enforcement official. Here is a look at some possible candidates to replace him. * Donald Verrilli, 57, serves as the U.S. solicitor general.In that role he is the Obama administration's top representativebefore the U.S. Supreme Court. He has held the position sinceJune 2011. His most high-profile victory before the high courtwas the landmark 2012 ruling upholding President Barack Obama'ssignature healthcare law. Verrilli earlier spent years as apartner at the Jenner & Block law firm. * Deval Patrick, 58, is the two-term Democratic governor ofMassachusetts. President Barack Obama has expressed hisadmiration for Patrick, saying in March "he could be verysuccessful at the federal level" and would make "a greatpresident or vice president." He is the first black governor ofhis state. His term as governor ends in January 2015. He servedas assistant attorney general for civil rights under PresidentBill Clinton. He gave speeches at the 2008 and 2012 Democraticnational conventions that boosted his profile. * Kamala Harris, 49, is the Democratic attorney general ofCalifornia. She has held the top law enforcement job in the mostpopulous U.S. state since being elected in 2011. Previously sheserved two terms as the district attorney in San Francisco. Shegained national attention for taking a hard stance in settlementnegotiations with banks over illegal foreclosures. She alsobacked the successful legal effort to overturn the state's banon same-sex marriage. Obama apologized in 2013 after calling her"the best-looking attorney general in the country" in remarks ata fundraiser. * Kathryn Ruemmler, 43, served as President Barack Obama'stop legal advisor for three years. She left her position asWhite House counsel in April to rejoin the Latham & Watkins lawfirm, where she had worked in between government jobs. Inaddition to serving in the White House under both Obama andPresident Bill Clinton, she has also worked as a federalprosecutor. She was part of the team that successfully convictedformer Enron executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. * Preet Bharara, 45, has served for five years as ManhattanU.S. attorney, one of the most prominent federal prosecutorposts. In that job, Bharara has overseen high-profileprosecutions of insider trading, terrorism and politicalcorruption. His office secured the terrorism conviction ofSuleiman Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of former al Qaeda leaderOsama bin Laden, and investigated Steven A. Cohen's SAC CapitalAdvisors hedge fund for insider trading, resulting in a $1.2billion plea deal. Formerly chief counsel to Democratic U.S.Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the Indian-American Bhararahas said he does not have aspirations for elected office. * Loretta Lynch, 55, has served two stints as Brooklyn U.S.attorney, first from 1999 to 2001 and then again starting in2010. She is known for keeping a low profile, and her officeearlier this year brought a tax evasion case against RepublicanU.S. Representative Michael Grimm of Staten Island. Lynch hasoverseen a $1 billion mortgage-fraud settlement with Bank ofAmerica, terrorism cases including the conviction of a man for aplot to bomb New York City subways, and money-laundering chargesagainst HSBC that resulted in a $1.9 billion fine. Since 2013,she has chaired a committee of U.S. attorneys who provide policyadvice to Holder. * Thomas Perrelli, 48, served for three years under Obama as associate attorney general, the No. 3 post at the JusticeDepartment before rejoining the first Jenner & Block law firm in2012. He led the U.S. government's efforts to negotiate a $25billion settlement to resolve claims against financialinstitutions for servicing of mortgages and negotiated thecreation of a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of theDeepwater Horizon 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. (Compiled by Lawrence Hurley, Nate Raymond, Jessica Dye and Will Dunham; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)