An Island native and young attorney with a bit of political legacy in her own right has been appointed as the next Vineyard legislative liaison.

Cape and Islands state Rep. Tim Madden, who takes office in January, announced this week that he has appointed Virginia Nelligan Coogan — she goes by the first name Nell — to the post.

Ms. Coogan, who is 29, worked as legal counsel to the Massachusetts Senate Committee on Ways and Means for the past two years. She now practices law with her brother Geoghan in Vineyard Haven. She is the daughter of Liza Coogan, a Vineyard Haven artist, and the late Edmond G. Coogan, a former teacher, attorney and selectman in Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven who was a respected and popular Island politician. Mr. Coogan died in 2001 at the age of 57 from cancer. The Coogan family ties to the Vineyard date back to the 1940s.

Ms. Coogan will replace Russell Smith, the liaison who worked under former state Rep. Eric T. Turkington.

“She will be a large asset,” Mr. Madden said in comments Wednesday.

“I think we’re going to be a good team and I am excited to get started,” Ms. Coogan said.

Ms. Coogan grew up in Vineyard Haven and graduated from the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School in 1997. From there she went on to Wesleyan University, where she graduated in 2001 with a bachelor of arts degree in government. She later did postgraduate work at George Washington University; she graduated in 2006 with a master’s degree in public health and a law degree. She played soccer throughout high school and college.

She is married to Anthony Carestia, who is the manager of Alchemy restaurant in Edgartown. They live in Oak Bluffs.

Mr. Madden, who has been working as the Nantucket legislative liaison for the past 10 years, said he met Ms. Coogan last summer in the state house. After he was elected in November in a heated four-way race, he said he had a conversation with her again.

“It was pretty simple. She said she’d like to do the job and I offered it to her,” Mr. Madden said.

He said he believes Ms. Coogan will be a key player, both on the Island and on Beacon Hill, where she already has a good base of experience from her work on the Senate committee.

“I think you are going to see a different approach to the job with her, and she will be a large asset to me,” Mr. Madden said. He said Ms. Coogan will hold office hours on the Vineyard two days a week and spend one day a week in Boston.

“I am going to build a team and Nell is an important member of that team. She is someone that I want to bring into my office and say, ‘Here is a piece of legislation — what do you think?’” he said, adding: “I have already found her to be very intelligent and painfully blunt at times — and that is what I am looking for.”

He was quick to praise the work of Mr. Smith, who is now working as the county manager.

“Russell has done a great job — he is well-known on the Island and he will continue to do a great job as county manager,” Mr. Madden said.

Ms. Coogan said she believes her work in the state senate has prepared her well for the liaison job. She said after she met Mr. Madden last summer she decided to support him in his election bid.

“It’s a hard thing to be from the Vineyard and support someone from Nantucket . . . but I got interested and decided to support him,’ she said, adding: “I know he had plenty of great people to choose from [for the liaison job] . . . so I am honored to be chosen. And I know that Russell did a great job and I am excited to pick up where he leaves off.”

Created in 1978 when the Vineyard lost its seat in the state house due to redistricting, the legislative liaison position was first held by the late Robert Morgan, followed by the late Douglas Ewing. Mr. Smith was appointed to the post following Mr. Ewing’s death in 1995.

Ms. Coogan comes from a political family — her father was actively involved in politics and was known for his statesmanlike approach to the issues — especially during the battles on Beacon Hill over control of the Steamship Authority in the 1990s. In 1976 Mr. Coogan ran for the state representative post against incumbent Terrence P. McCarthy and lost by 83 votes. Her uncle Greg Coogan is an Oak Bluffs selectman. Her grandfather on her mother’s side, the Hon. John Dwyer, was a judge in the town of Pittsfield.

When she was married a little over a year ago, she made a small splash when she and her new husband jumped into the Vineyard Haven harbor just after they had exchanged vows. But it was not a publicity stunt; Ms. Coogan had quietly planned the plunge because her father had not been there to give her away in marriage and his ashes had been scattered in the harbor.

“If I couldn’t introduce my dad — who was the most amazing dad — to my husband in person, then I’d have to marry a man who would be willing to meet him in a different way,” she told the Martha’s Vineyard Magazine in an interview.

This week she said she hopes her father can be an inspiration to her in her new job.

“What I’ve learned from him is listening to all points of views. Because no matter what the issue is, there will always be people on all sides of things — even on an Island,” she said.