Jessica Swartz

Jessica Swartz went to Michigan State University, James Madison College, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1999. At MSU, she was a member of the women's rowing team. In 2000, she moved to Washington, D.C., to attend law school at the American University Washington College of Law. In law school, she was a Marshall-Brennan fellow. As a fellow, she taught a constitutional law class to DC Public School high school students and assisted with a national moot court competition for high school students. Swartz graduated law school in 2003, and worked as a health law associate for two different law firms. In late 2007, she joined the federal workforce as an appellate attorney for the Department of Veterans Affairs.  In that capacity, she represented the Secretary of Veterans Affairs before the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Swartz also served on various OGC-wide committees and participated in several leadership training programs at VA.

Swartz was also very active in the rowing community in Washington. She was an assistant varsity coach for National Cathedral School for two years and then for the boys’ varsity team at Bethesda-Chevy Chase high school for seven years. She also practiced and competed with the Capital Rowing Club from 2009-16. In April of 2016 she returned to Michigan with her husband and daughter to be closer to family. Jessica worked as the staff attorney at the Battle Creek VA Medical Hospital through December 2016. She began her job at WMU as assistant general counsel in January 2017.

Swartz is also the University’s Freedom of Information Act—FOIA—Coordinator and responds on behalf of the University to external requests for University records.