For US attorney, another legal challenge

“I’m still holding out hope on that one,’’ said Ortiz, tapping the wooden coffee table in her ninth-floor office in the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse, overlooking Boston Harbor.

“Knock on wood,’’ she added. “I always knock on wood.’’

Ortiz, 55, has quickly become a high-profile figure, with her short tenure in office marked by the successful prosecutions of Turner and DiMasi on corruption charges as well as the conviction of former state senator Dianne Wilkerson for bribery. And she now will be watched closely as she prosecutes Bulger on a racketeering indictment that includes accusations of 19 murders.

Ortiz said it was always part of her plan to maintain a public presence, even if she never expected it to be in such a bright spotlight.

“It’s one of my key priorities, being public, to really let the community know what we’re about,’’ she said in a recent interview. “The most important part of my job is seeing the ability to make an impact, to make an impact on the community.’’

She added, with a deep breath, “It’s gone by extremely quick, in so many different arenas.’’

The more difficult task, she and others say, is to sustain the attention on her office with the work she vowed to do when US Senator John Kerry and the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy nominated her for the post.

While keeping the core philosophies of her predecessors to prioritize terrorism and corruption, she has also made her imprint on the office, strengthening the white-collar crimes unit to prosecute more economic and health care fraud, and creating a new civil rights enforcement team.

In addition, she has worked with police officials at the local level to promote youth programs and to prosecute violent crimes, a deterrent strategy because of the tougher sentences at the federal level.

“A lot of people don’t understand the role of the US attorney and the substantial impact it has, especially at the most local level,’’ said Michael Sullivan, Ortiz’s predecessor as US attorney, for whom she worked as a prosecutor in the economic crimes unit.