Valerie Griswold is the Executive Director, Investigations and Enforcement, Better Regulation Division, within the NSW Department of Customer Service cluster. She brings an extensive background in government regulation both in Australia and the United States. She is a NSW legal practitioner with vast experience in civil and criminal law, as well as consumer protection.
In 1989, Valerie joined the Orange County California District Attorney’s Office, where she was a deputy DA. During her 8 years with the office, she prosecuted hundreds of cases, including almost 60 jury trials which involve serious felonies such as attempted murder, stalking, gross vehicular manslaughter, drive-by shootings and more. She was promoted to Senior Deputy District Attorney and served as the head of the Environmental Crimes Unit, chairing the multi-jurisdictional Hazardous Materials Environmental Investigations, and lecturing nationally on the subject.
After moving to Sydney with her family, Valerie requalified to practice law in Australia in 2003. She became the Solicitor Advocate for NSW Fair Trading in 2004 and was later appointed Director of NSW Fair Trading Legal Services. In addition, she served as Acting Director for Home Building Services and in the department’s Policy area.
After a brief stint at the NSW Office of the Children’s Guardian as the Director of Policy and Legal, Valerie returned to NSW Fair Trading in 2015 as Executive Director for the compliance and enforcement area.
Valerie currently leads the Better Regulation Division’s Investigations and Enforcement stream, which includes teams from Fair Trading, SafeWork and Subsidence Advisory NSW as well as a Data, Intelligence & Analytics branch and a Disciplinary Action Unit. Valerie guides approximately 275 staff in providing efficient, innovative and effective delivery of intelligence-led, risk-based investigation and enforcement activities for the protection of the public, businesses and communities in New South Wales.