Debra Fowler holds the position of Senior Aviation Counsel in the Torts Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice. She is one of the Department’s senior litigators, defending the government in cases arising under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

Ms. Fowler joined the Department of Justice in 1990 as a Trial Attorney and held that position until being appointed Senior Aviation Counsel in 2001. She has represented the United States and its agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the United States Forest Service, the United States Air Force and the Army National Guard in numerous aviation cases in Federal District Courts in California, Colorado, Florida, Texas, Wyoming, New Mexico, Washington, New York, Arizona, Alaska, Hawaii and Guam. She was lead counsel for the United States in the matter In re Aircrash at Agana, Guam on August 6, 1997, the mulitdistrict litigation involving approximately 168 cases arising out of a Korean Air Lines 747 on the island of Guam.

In 1989, Ms. Fowler graduated from the University of Tulsa with a joint Master of Arts and Juris Doctorate degree. She is a member of the Virginia bar and is admitted to practice before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ms. Fowler presently serves on the Southern Methodist University Air Law Symposium Board of Advisors. She served as the President of the International Aviation Women’s Association for the 2008-2009 term and continues to serve on the Board of Directors of that organization. She is Past Chair of the Aviation and Space Law Committee of the Tort, Trial and Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association. She has also served as the Chair of the Government Liability subcommittee of the Aviation Litigation committee, Litigation Section, and on the editorial board of the ABA publication “The Brief.” Additionally, she served as a faculty member of the American Bar Association Trial Academy in 2006. Ms. Fowler is frequently called upon to lecture at aviation and law conferences throughout the country.