Robert Schwartz co-founded Juvenile Law Center in 1975 and has been its executive director since 1982. With over 30 years at Juvenile Law Center, Schwartz is a national leader in advocating for children's rights and has extensive experience in all areas of juvenile law.
In his career at Juvenile Law Center, Schwartz has represented dependent and delinquent children in Pennsylvania juvenile and appellate courts; brought class-action litigation over institutional conditions and probation functions; testified in Congress before House and Senate committees; and spoken in over 25 states on matters related to children and the law.
Schwartz's career has not been limited to Pennsylvania, but has included fighting nationally and internationally for juvenile rights. From 1992-98 he was chair of the Juvenile Justice Committee of the American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section, a position he resumed in 2006. In 1993 he visited South Africa to help develop a legal system for children. In 1993 he also co-authored the American Bar Association's report, America's Children at Risk; and in 1995 he helped author a follow-up report on youth's access to quality lawyers, A Call for Justice.
From 1996-2006, Schwartz was a member of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice. As part of the Network, he co-edited Youth on Trial: A Developmental Perspective on Juvenile Justice (University of Chicago Press: 2000). From 1996-99 he was a gubernatorial appointee to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. Since 1991 he has been a gubernatorial appointee to the Commission's Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Committee which is the State Advisory Group that distributes federal funds in Pennsylvania and advises the governor regarding juvenile justice policy. Schwartz in 2005 became chair of the Advisory Committee to the Children's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. Schwartz also is chair of the Board of the Philadelphia Youth Network.
He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Andrew Hamilton Award, presented by the Philadelphia Bar Association "for exemplary service in the public interest," the Reginald Heber Smith Award, presented by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the Livingston Hall Award, presented by the American Bar Association, and the Stephen M. Cahn Award, presented by the National Association of Counsel for Children for career achievement. Schwartz is a graduate of Haverford College and Temple University School of Law.
