Robert Schwartz is the co-founder and, since 1982, the Executive Director of the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Schwartz has represented dependent and delinquent children in individual and systemic reform cases and has testified in Congress before House and Senate Committees.

He has chaired several state and national committees, including the American Bar Association's Juvenile Justice Committee; he co-authored the major ABA report, America's Children At Risk. He has been appointed by the Governor of Pennsylvania to numerous committees as well. Schwartz is the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the ABA's Livingston Hall Award and the Stephen M. Cahn Award of the National Association of Counsel for Children for career achievement. He has authored over a dozen articles and has spoken in over 25 states on matters involving children and the law.