Name: Tanner, Lisa
Title: Texas Assistant Attorney General
Texas A&M Class: 1987
Inducted: 2014
Lisa Tanner graduated from New Caney High School in 1984, while at Texas A&M University, she majored in Agricultural Economics. Lisa was very active with FFA in the College of Agriculture, Pre-Law Society, several intramural sports, and was even a Texas A&M bus driver! She graduated from Texas A&M in December of 1987 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics and then went on to receive a Juris Doctorate Degree from Baylor University School of Law in February, 1991. While in law school, Lisa decided that she would be a prosecutor because they have just one duty: they are sworn only to seek justice. Lisa also credits her decision to go to law school to several influential Agricultural Economics professors at Texas A&M who served as her mentors.
Lisa worked as a Law Clerk at Texas Farm Bureau in Waco during her first year at Baylor Law. The following year, Lisa worked as a Law Clerk at the Law Office of Rollin Khoury in Waco. Following her graduation from Baylor Law School in 1991, Lisa came back to Aggieland and became an Assistant District Attorney for the Brazos County District Attorney’s Office where she worked as a Felony Prosecutor. Lisa was the lead prosecutor for more than 25 felony jury trials, with an emphasis on violent offenses and sex crimes during her time in Brazos County. She also handled all aspects of appeals of assigned cases and assisted in post-conviction litigation for death penalty cases.
In February of 1994, Lisa left Bryan to become an Assistant Attorney General for the Texas Attorney General’s Office in Austin where she works for the Criminal Prosecutions Division. During her tenure there, she has served as the lead prosecutor in numerous complex cases. She specializes in the investigation and prosecution of capital murder cases, particularly cold cases, child abuse, and sexual assault cases, and other violent crimes, with particular emphasis on the forensic aspects of those cases. She handles cases from inception of investigation to final resolution, including grand jury, trial, appeal, and post-conviction proceedings. Since 2007, Lisa has been the chief of the Cyber Crimes and Child Protection Section of the Criminal Prosecution Division. In this role, Lisa supervises six attorneys who handle cases involving physical and sexual abuse of children, as well as a variety of cyber-crimes. In 2011, Lisa also became the Chief of the Major Offenders and Violent Crimes Section. With this title, Lisa supervises seven additional attorneys who handle cases involving all manner of violent crimes and major offences, particularly homicides.
Lisa has dedicated her entire professional life to prosecuting those who commit the most heinous crimes against the most innocent victims. During her time at the Attorney General’s Office, Lisa has mostly specialized in the prosecution of especially complex cold cases. Lisa has successfully handled several high profile cold cases including some that were more than 25 years old.
Lisa regularly provides training seminars, workshops, and other educational events for prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, victim advocates, and law enforcement officers as well as undergraduate and law students. The topics she most regularly speaks on involve the laws attendant to capital murder prosecutions, forensics, child abuse, cyber-crimes, and legal ethics. She is a frequent speaker and author for Texas District County Attorneys Association, Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, Texas State Bar Advanced Criminal Law Course, and several other State Law Associations. She is Board Certified in Criminal Law since 1996, is a recipient of the 2007 C. Chris Marshall Distinguished Faculty Award for the Texas District and County Attorney’s Association, and was named Top Notch Lawyer for Criminal Prosecution by Texas Lawyer Magazine in 2012. Along with these distinguished awards, Lisa was recently appointed by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization to be a member of their Criminal Law Advisory Committee. Lisa is a Texas A&M Association of Former Students Century Club member and a frequent attendee of Aggie sports events. She was also a speaker at the 2013 Women Former Students Network Leadership Conference.
Lisa currently resides in Spicewood, Texas where she is involved with and supports The Miracle Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Austin that runs orphanages in India, and is revolutionizing the way they operate. Lisa is an avid tennis player and volunteers with the Capitol Area Tennis Association. She is also an organic gardener and a semi-decent underwater photographer.
