Jennifer Ellen Williams Zwagerman

Jennifer Williams Zwagerman is Associate Director at Drake Agricultural Law Center and Director of Career Development at Drake University Law School.  In her work with the Drake Agricultural Law Center, Jennifer uses her varied background in the food and agricultural sectors to provide support to the Center’s projects, while also teaching a variety of food and agricultural classes to law students, including Food & the Law and a litigation-based Current Issues class.  As Director of Career Development at Drake University Law School, she is primarily responsible for managing all aspects of the Career Development Office, including student programs, resources and services, employer outreach, student and alumni counseling and program development.

Jennifer is a 2004 graduate of Drake Law School, where she received the Food and Agricultural Law Certificate and graduated with highest honors. She received her LL.M. in Agricultural Law from the University of Arkansas and served for two years as a law clerk to Judge David Hansen, Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. After completing her clerkship in 2007, she joined the Des Moines office of Faegre & Benson (n/k/a/ Faegre Baker Daniels) where she was an attorney in the general litigation group, with a national practice in food and agricultural law.  During her time at the firm, Jennifer extensively wrote and spoke on food and agricultural law-related issues. Jennifer spent the 2010-2011 school year at Drake as the Faegre & Benson Visiting Scholar, where she worked with students and taught courses focusing on her specialty: food and agricultural law. Jennifer served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Drake Journal of Agricultural Law while in law school, and her LL.M. thesis was later published in the Spring 2009 edition of the Journal. She also co-authored a piece on the Food Safety Modernization Act that was published in the Hamline Journal of Public Law & Policy’s 2011 Food and Agricultural Law Symposium issue. Prior to attending law school, Jennifer graduated with a B.S. in Agricultural Communications from Michigan State University and served as Promotions Director with the Michigan Cattlemen’s Association, Michigan Beef Industry Council and Michigan Veal Committee.