Ms. McGowan focuses her practice exclusively on educational law and the defense of school district litigation. During the course of her career, Ms. McGowan has represented numerous public schools and private educational institutions and serves as General Counsel to the Prince William County Public Schools.

During the course of her career, Ms. McGowan has litigated several hundred cases in the fields of educational law, personal injury, product liability, police misconduct, premises liability, malicious prosecution and false arrest, construction law, industrial safety, civil rights and constitutional law, professional malpractice, and employment discrimination. Ms. McGowan has also lectured to other attorneys, school representatives, and private clients in the areas of sovereign immunity, general personal injury litigation, sexual harassment, employment discrimination, school disciplinary matters, and other legal issues of significance to the public schools. Ms. McGowan regularly drafts and modifies school policies and regulations to conform with developing law, provides in-house training to school board members and school staff on legal and disciplinary matters, and provides legal opinions on a variety of matters, including employee grievances, civil rights issues, student disciplinary matters, procedural and legal aspects of School Board proceedings, and compliance with school laws, such as Virginia’s State and Local Government Conflict of Interest Act, FOIA, FERPA, The ADA, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, Title VII, and The No Child Left Behind Act.