Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall is a veteran prosecutor who has dedicated her life and her legal talents to prosecuting violent crime, combating the sexual exploitation of children, fighting domestic abuse and working creatively to improve the quality of life in Pima County.
Barbara LaWall has a national reputation as an innovative leader and law enforcement professional. She is an experienced prosecutor, and a seasoned and highly experienced administrator and manager. She leads the largest law firm in Southern Arizona, an office of more than 400 staff, including 100 attorneys, 22 detectives and 25 victim advocates.
Barbara began her career as a law clerk in the County Attorney's Office, and after earning her law degree from the University of Arizona College of Law, she joined the Pima County Attorney's Office as a Deputy County Attorney. For the past 32 years, Barbara LaWall has dedicated herself as a career prosecutor.
Barbara LaWall has earned recognition and respect as a vigorous, tough prosecutor who has prosecuted thousands of serious and violent felony cases, including homicide, rape and child sexual assault crimes, and numerous drug and property crime offenders. In 1983, she was appointed the Chief Criminal Deputy in charge of overseeing and supervising the criminal prosecutions division of the County Attorney's Office. In 1987, Barbara was appointed Chief Deputy County Attorney, managing operations, personnel and budget for the Office for thirteen years.
Voters first elected Barbara LaWall County Attorney in 1996, the first woman to be elected to that office. Barbara was re-elected in 2000 and again in 2004. She is seeking her fourth term. With public safety as her top priority, she has focused on crime prevention, reducing recidivism, helping and serving victims, maintaining a fiscally sound, cost-effective operation and keeping the office transparent and accessible to the people of Pima County.
Since taking office, Barbara LaWall has focused with intensity on fighting violent crime. She has increased the felony violent crime trial rate from 24% to 70%, and continuously sends serious, violent offenders to state prison at a higher rate than any other Arizona county. Cracking down on gun crimes, Barbara has increased the prosecutions for possession of illegal weapons by 146%, and the number of defendants sent to prison for weapons crimes by 68%. The number of years they are sentenced to prison has increased by 101%.
Throughout her career, County Attorney Barbara LaWall has made helping victims, women and children a priority. She spearheaded the creation and founding of the Southern Arizona Children's Advocacy Center for sexually exploited and abused children, led the fight nationally and in Arizona for victims' rights, created the SafeBaby Program and Amber Alert program first in Pima County then statewide. She has created the first dedicated prosecution team to handle domestic violence cases.
Although born in New York City, Barbara LaWall has lived in Tucson her entire life. Her parents moved to Tucson in 1946 where her father sold auto parts before becoming a business partner in Cactus Auto. Her mother retired after working as a secretary at DMAFB for 25 years. They raised Barbara and her sister, Susan, who recently retired as the Flowing Wells high school drama teacher, on Tucson's "near east" side at 5th and Swan. Barbara attended Peter Howell elementary, Alice Vail Junior High, Rincon High and the University of Arizona.
After graduating from the University of Arizona in 1967, Barbara taught high school English in TUSD for several years before attending law school at the UA College of Law. She remained in Tucson and pursued her career as a prosecutor while raising her daughter, Sara, who graduated from Flowing Wells High School and the University of Arizona. Sara is married and lives in California with her husband and two year old son.
As Pima County Attorney, Barbara LaWall has served on a number of Boards and Commissions, and has also been appointed and elected to Chair several state and national Boards and Commissions. For 12 years, she has continued to serve as a Commissioner on the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission, and Chaired the ACJC commission for two years.
Statewide Barbara LaWall has also held appointments on the Arizona Auto Theft Authority, the Governor's Commission on Domestic Violence and the Governor's Commission on Juvenile Justice. Governor Janet Napolitano appointed Barbara to Chair the Arizona Methamphetamine Task Force and to Chair the search committee for the Director of the Arizona Department of Corrections.
Representing Arizona and Pima County, Barbara LaWall also takes an active and prominent role in prosecution issues at the national level. The National District Attorney's Association is the voice of America's prosecutors, and Barbara serves on its Board of Directors as a past vice-president, and has co-chaired the Bias Crime Committee. In 2004, she was appointed to serve on the United States Attorney General's Executive Working Group on Prosecutorial Relations, composed of State Attorneys General, U.S. Attorneys and elected District Attorneys from across the United States which meets to discuss criminal justice issues.
The American Prosecutor's Research Institute serves as a nationwide, interdisciplinary resource center for prosecutorial research and development, technical assistance, training and publications, and Barbara has served as Chairperson of the APRI Board of Directors since 2006. She also serves as a member of the APRI Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee.
Barbara's many contributions to our community have been recognized over the years, some of them include:
Barbara LaWall also serves our community on the Board of Directors of the YWCA, the Advisory Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tucson and the Southern Arizona Children’s Advocacy Center.