Brown_Lisa

Lisa Brown

Brown_Lisa

Lisa Brown

Partner

  • Chair, Higher Education Practice
Washington DC + 1 202 663 6476

Lisa Brown, former general counsel of the US Department of Education (DOE) and vice president and general counsel of Georgetown University, leverages nearly 40 years of legal experience in the public and private sectors to guide institutions of higher education and their boards through administrative compliance, government investigations, congressional inquiries and public scrutiny. She is the chair of the firm's Higher Education Practice and a partner in its Crisis Management and Strategic Response Group. During Ms. Brown’s tenure at the DOE, she oversaw a team of over 100 lawyers and provided legal advice to the secretary of education and senior DOE officials on issues relating to DOE initiatives, policies, regulations, litigation and business operations, including advising on public communications and responses to Congress.

As the vice president and general counsel at Georgetown University, Ms. Brown provided legal counsel to Georgetown’s president, board of directors, and senior academic and administrative officers on the panoply of issues facing the university, served in the President’s cabinet, and mentored first-generation college students and students interested in law and social justice. 

Ms. Brown served in the Obama Administration, first as assistant to the president and staff secretary in the White House, and then as acting chief performance officer at the Office of Management and Budget. She was a member of the Obama-Biden transition team, serving as co-director of the Agency Review Working Group.

Ms. Brown was also the executive director of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, where she built the organization into a nationally recognized organization dedicated to furthering a progressive vision of law and policy. 

During the Clinton Administration, Ms. Brown worked in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and then became counsel to Vice President Gore, where she also served as a member of the executive board of the President's Committee for Employment of People with Disabilities. 

Prior to serving in the DOJ, she was a partner at another firm where she litigated cases in trial and appellate courts concerning legal malpractice, government and commercial contracts, banking, and labor law, and worked on a variety of corporate matters.

Ms. Brown was a law clerk for the Honorable John C. Godbold of the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Insights & News

View all of Lisa's insights & news

Credentials

  • Education

    • JD, University of Chicago Law School, 1986

      With Honors

      The University of Chicago Legal Forum, Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor

    • BA, Political Economy, Princeton University, 1982

      magna cum laude

  • Admissions

    • California

    • District of Columbia

  • Clerkships

    • The Hon. John C. Godbold, US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, 1986 - 1987

Credentials

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