As Pro Bono Counsel, Lisa B. Swaminathan oversees a program through which attorneys across the firm donate roughly 50,000 hours of free legal services each year to people in need of legal aid. She also chairs the firm's Pro Bono Committee. Lisa has advocated for the rights of individuals and families in need of legal services throughout her career, both as a litigator in private practice and as an attorney with legal non-profit organizations.
As an attorney at Juvenile Law Center, Lisa worked to enforce and advance the rights of children and youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. She focused particularly on ending the imposition of costs and fines in the juvenile justice system, educating courts on the collateral consequences of juvenile justice involvement, ensuring youth access to counsel, and promoting permanency for older youth in the child welfare system. She served as a staff attorney in the Family Advocacy Unit of Community Legal Services, where she represented parents in child welfare cases and developed policies to support and maintain relationships among system-involved families.
Professional Highlights
Pro Bono Experience
Lisa contributed more than 1,400 hours to pro bono service during her time as an associate in Ballard Spahr’s Litigation Department. Her pro bono work included matters involving civil rights, asylum, defamation, and child welfare.
Professional Activities
American Bar Association, Children's Right to Counsel Committee, January 2018-present
Ballard Spahr's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council
Community Legal Services, Justice for All 5K Organizing Committee, January 2010-July 2015
Recognition & Accomplishments
Recipient, Duke University's Burdman Fellowship (for pursuit of public interest work)
Speaking Engagements
"Ending the Placement of Youth on Registries for Sex Offenses: What You Need to Know," National Juvenile Justice Network Webinar, September 2018
Guest lecturer, "Oral Advocacy in Termination of Parental Rights Proceedings," University of Pennsylvania and Temple Law Schools' Parents, Children, and the State Seminar, 2009-2010 and 2017-2018
Guest lecturer, "Collateral Consequences of Juvenile Delinquency Adjudication," Temple Law School's Juvenile Justice Seminar, 2017-2018
Board Memberships & Community Service
Philadelphia VIP, December 2015-December 2016
Publications
"Extended Foster Care for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System? A Smart and Sensible Policy for Better Outcomes," Juvenile Law Center Blog, April 2018
"Developments in Civil Asset Forfeiture," Verdict, January 2018
"Pennsylvania Supreme Court Case Review," The NACC Guardian, Spring 2017
"When Parents Fight: Alaska's Presumption against Awarding Custody to Perpetrators of Domestic Violence," Alaska Law Review, December 2008
Credentials
Education
Duke University School of Law (J.D. 2009, with honors)
University of Pennsylvania (B.A./B.S., magna cum laude, 2004)
Admissions
Pennsylvania
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania