Laurie A. Lewis joined the full-time faculty at the Columbus School of Law in 2004 and is an alumna. Professor Lewis was Editor-in-Chief of the Catholic University Law Review, and published a Note. She was also an active member of the Moot Court Association. Prior to earning her law degree, Professor Lewis received a B.A. in Psychology from the University of New Hampshire, where she graduated summa cum laude and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa; and a M.S. in Rehabilitation Counselor Education from Syracuse University. 

Professor Lewis teaches Lawyering Skills and Family Law. She has also taught Law Journal Editing, and American Legal Analysis in the LL.M. program offered jointly by CUA and Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland. Professor Lewis is a member of the Virginia State Bar; Arlington County Bar; Supreme Court of the United States Bar; and American Bar Association, where she has served on the Legal Writing, Reasoning and Research Section Committee.

Professor Lewis' legal expertise is in the field of domestic relations law, involving wide-ranging litigation and mediation work. Litigation experience includes civil motions and trial practice in Virginia appellate, circuit, and juvenile and domestic relations courts on issues relating to divorce, custody, spousal support, child support, and equitable distribution. She has also represented clients in personal injury and defamation suits.

Mediation experience includes working with couples and families, primarily in negotiation and drafting of property settlement agreements for uncontested divorce cases. She has also mediated child custody proceedings. Professor Lewis is certified by the Supreme Court of Virginia as a Circuit and District Court Family Mediator, and by the Northern Virginia Mediation Service as an Advanced Family Mediator.

As a Rehabilitation Psychologist, Professor Lewis worked in hospital and school settings with persons suffering from drug addiction, sometimes associated with chronic pain. She has also worked as a Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant, and served as an expert witness in trials involving persons disabled from working. Professor Lewis is a licensed Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor and Biofeedback Therapist.

In the law school community, Professor Lewis serves as Chair of the Admissions and Recruitment Committee and Coordinator of the Family Law Concentration.  She also serves as a Judge for the Student Scholar Series and various Moot Court Competitions.

In her home community, Professor Lewis provides pro bono legal services to her church, where she serves as a trustee, seminarian committee convener, and lay pastoral counselor. Professor Lewis also offers pro bono mediation services to indigent families. She has three daughters and lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband.

 

Research and Writing

Laurie A Lewis, Law Student Mediators Wear a Triple Crown:  Skilled, Sellable, and Successful, 50 U.S.F. L. Rev. 165 (2016).

Laurie A. Lewis, Clerkship-Ready: First-Year Law Faculty are Uniquely Poised to Mentor Stellar Students for Elbow Employment with Judges, 12 Appalachian J.L. 1 (2012).