West Chester resident William McSwain, a former defense attorney in Philadelphia, has been sworn in as the new U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, writes Michael Rellahan for the Daily Times.

McSwain graduated from Henderson High School as his class’s valedictorian, then received his bachelor’s degree from Yale and law degree from Harvard.

McSwain, who counts former West Chester mayor Dick Yoder among his biggest influences, previously served as an assistant prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice and a law clerk for U.S. Circuit Judge Midge Rendell.

During the ceremony – attended by U.S. Sens. Robert Casey and Pat Toomey and Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein – at the U.S. District Courthouse in Philadelphia, McSwain was sworn in by Rendell, a senior judge on the Third Circuit bench.

“At my core, I’m just a regular person, a regular guy, hopefully with the kind of community values that people in West Chester and Chester County share and can be proud of,” said McSwain.

Read more about William McSwain in the Daily Times here.