Sandra Dee Lord

Ms. Lord entered on duty as a Special Master at the Court of Federal Claims on June 22, 2009, and served as Chief Special Master from April 2010-March 2011. Before joining the Office of Special Masters, she served as an Administrative Law Judge in the Social Security Administration's Office of Disability Adjudication and Review in Raleigh, NC.

She began her legal career as an attorney in the Department of Labor where, from 1980 to 1987, she concentrated on appellate litigation in a variety of practice areas, including wage and hour, occupational safety and health, and ERISA law.

From 1987 to 1992, and again from 1995 to 1997, Ms. Lord was Of Counsel in the law firm of Ross, Dixon & Masback, in the District of Columbia, concentrating on insurance defense litigation. Her pro bono work included representing the District of Columbia in defense of its child support guidelines, and as a guardian ad litem in child custody cases.

Ms. Lord served from 1992 to 1995 as an Associate General Counsel at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, MD.

In 1997, she joined the Department of Justice Civil Division/Commercial Litigation Branch. During her tenure as a Trial Attorney in the Frauds Section, she litigated cases arising under the civil False Claims Act.

Ms. Lord received her undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Yale in 1972, with a double major in English and French literature. She graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1980. Before attending law school, Ms. Lord was a reporter for United Press International, the Albany Times Union, and the Detroit Free Press. She is a member of the bar in the District of Columbia and Maryland.