The Office of General Counsel is pleased to announce that Robert B. (Ben) Walker, Jr., an experienced attorney who has specialized in representing institutions of higher education on a variety of issues over the past 11 years, has been named to a newly created position of associate general counsel. Beginning March 6, in that role he will work closely with general counsel Traevena Byrd and associate general counsel Barbara English on a broad range of legal matters including employment and labor law, student affairs, and athletics. He was selected following a national search that was launched last fall.
“We are very excited to have Ben join our team here at Towson University,” Byrd said in making the announcement. “His background working on FERPA, Title IX, Clery Act, and the Violence Against Women Act will enhance and strengthen our ability to manage those types of issues. He also has published numerous articles on higher education compliance topics.”
For the past 11 years Walker has served as a senior associate with the firm of Ritzert & Leyton, PC in Fairfax, Virginia. There he participated in a broad range of investigations, including regulatory and civil matters with the U.S. Department of Education, as well as state and accrediting agencies. He also focused on criminal investigations, including issues involving, or relating to, the administration of Title IV Higher Education Academy program funds.
Walker received his law degree from the University of California Hastings College of Law, where he was on the staff of the Hastings Law Review and served as a legal extern for Chief Judge Marilyn Hall Patel in the Northern District of California. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia in 1996.
