LaShawn joined ACS in November 2009 and currently serves as Vice President of Policy Development and Programming. In this capacity, she supervises the creation and execution of the substantive national programming, including ACS's national convention and substantive publications; coordinates the activities of national projects with student and lawyer chapters; and maintains relationships with practitioners, academics, public interest groups and public officials to ensure ACS remains current and relevant resource regarding major legal and policy issues.
Before joining ACS, LaShawn served as Oversight Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, where she was lead counsel for the committee’s investigation into the enforcement of federal civil rights laws by U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. Before assuming her position with the Committee, LaShawn was Legislative Counsel for Civil Rights in the Washington Legislative Office of the ACLU. She also served as a legislative analyst for the Seattle City Council and was an assistant attorney general for the Attorney General of Washington state.
LaShawn graduated magna cum laude from Savannah State College with a Bachelor of Arts and from Howard University School of Law with a J.D. In law school, she was co-editor-in-chief of the Social Justice Law Review and a member of the Charles Hamilton Houston Moot Court team. She has certificate in non-profit management from Georgetown University.