Sheila Novak was an attorney in the Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) for over 36 years before retiring from federal service in 2025. She started
her career in the Office of the General Counsel as a trial attorney where she litigated dozens of
cases before USDA’s Administrative Law Judges and Judicial Officer and served as agency
counsel to the U.S. Department of Justice in defending challenges to USDA’s programs and
regulations in federal court, including under the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative
Procedure Act. She worked her way up through the ranks of the Office of the General Counsel
and was promoted to a Senior Counsel position in 2001 and a Deputy Assistant General Counsel
supervisory position in 2002. In 2017, she became a member of the government’s Senior
Executive Service and was selected to serve as an Assistant General Counsel to lead a division of
thirteen attorneys and was responsible for managing all legal matters arising under
approximately 50 federal statutes involving animal welfare, food safety, animal and plant health,
bioterrorism, and biotechnology, among others. During her career, Sheila successfully partnered
with the U.S. Department of Justice to bring, for the first time in the 50-year history of the
Animal Welfare Act (AWA), civil enforcement proceedings. She assisted the House Agriculture
Committee and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry in drafting key
legislation, including the Plant Protection Act, the Animal Health Protection Act, the National
Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard, and was recognized by the Chairman of House
Agriculture Committee for her considerable assistance in drafting the Agricultural Bioterrorism
Protection Act. Sheila has extensive experience and expertise in administrative law and
procedure, the Animal Welfare Act, and the legislative process. Sheila received her
undergraduate degree in Political Science from Towson University and her law degree from the
University of Richmond. She is a resident of Maryland, where she lives with her husband of 40
years and their beagle, Sunny.
Education
- University of Richmond; T.C. Williams School of Law J.D. 1986
Towson University B.S. Political Science 1983
Admissions
- Maryland