Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams announces the appointment of former First Deputy District Attorney Travis Anderson to serve as her First Assistant for the start of her second term. 

Anderson will replace Todd Brown as First Assistant District Attorney. Brown won one of three spots for Judge for the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas and will leave the office upon being sworn into his new role in early January. 

Currently, Anderson serves as a Hearing Examiner for the Pennsylvania Department of State, where he presides over and adjudicates administrative hearings involving state agencies and licensing boards.

“Travis Anderson brings a wealth of experience to this position,” District Attorney Adams said. “He has the necessary prosecutorial experience combined with supervisory and administrative experience that is necessary for this critical role. During his tenure in the office Anderson was highly regarded by colleagues, defense attorneys, Judges and Law Enforcement and I very much look forward to working with him again as I begin my second term in office.”  

“I am sincerely honored to have the opportunity to work with District Attorney Adams in this role,” Anderson said. “I look forward to rejoining my colleagues in the District Attorney’s Office and once again working with the dedicated and courageous members of Lancaster County’s law enforcement community.”

Anderson served in the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office from 2013 to 2022.  During his ten-year career as a prosecutor, Anderson prosecuted hundreds of cases and handled dozens of jury trials.  Anderson was promoted to the Major Crimes Unit in 2017, where he successfully prosecuted a variety of violent crimes including numerous homicides and other high-profile cases. 

Anderson also served in the office’s Appellate Unit, where he handled complex appeals in state and federal court, including several cases in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the United States Court of Appeal for the Third Circuit. Anderson supervised the Post-Conviction Relief unit from 2014 to 2019.

Anderson previously served as First Assistant District Attorney on an interim basis from April of 2019 to January of 2020 and assisted in the transition to the current administration.  Adams promoted Anderson to serve as First Deputy District Attorney from 2020 to 2022, where he supervised the office’s trial attorneys and served on the executive leadership team.  He has extensive management experience and deep knowledge of the Lancaster County criminal justice system.

During his prosecutorial career, Anderson worked with the Municipal Police Officers Educational and Training Commission (MPOETC) to develop annual training for police officers regarding changes in the law from 2020 to 2022.  Anderson also served as a MPOETC instructor for local police officers from 2016 to 2022.  Additionally, Anderson served as an adjunct professor at Elizabethtown College, where he taught a trial-advocacy class and coached the mock-trial team from 2018 to 2022.

Before joining the District Attorney’s Office, Anderson worked in the Office of Chief Counsel for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, where he represented the DOC and its employees in civil litigation in state and federal court.  He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh and his juris doctorate from Widener University Commonwealth Law School.  He resides in East Petersburg with his wife and two daughters.

MEDIA CONTACT: Sean McBryan, semcbryan@co.lancaster.pa.us; Twitter: @SeanMcBryanLanc.