Lisa Swafford

Assistant General Counsel for Operations

Lisa Swafford is the Assistant General Counsel for Operations where she addresses a broad range of legal issues affecting the Department’s policies and programs, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other aspects of environmental law, Freedom of Information Act, privacy, transportation security and emergency response, cybersecurity, Congressional and other oversight of the Department, and Native American sovereignty and jurisdiction. Prior to joining C-60, Lisa was a supervisor for nine years in the Office of the General Counsel’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection, with responsibilities in both the Civil Rights Compliance Branch and the Aviation Licensing Compliance Branch.

Lisa began her legal career in 1993 as an Assistant State’s Attorney (ASA) in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in Chicago, Illinois.  As an ASA, she rotated through several divisions including the appellate division, juvenile court, and the consumer fraud division. She handled misdemeanor and felony cases which involved extensive victim and witness preparation and argued multiple cases on appeal. She was the lead attorney in one of the busiest juvenile courtrooms in the Cook County Circuit Court. As the lead prosecutor, she assigned cases and supervised junior level attorneys daily.  After leaving Chicago and returning to the D.C. Metropolitan area, Lisa was appointed as a Magistrate in the18th Judicial District of the Commonwealth of Virginia where she researched, analyzed, and applied Virginia laws to cases and issued misdemeanor and felony arrest warrants, and handled domestic violence emergency protective orders and temporary medical detention orders.

Lisa received her Juris Doctorate from Tulane Law School in New Orleans and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Howard University.