Nathan Lewin
Nathan Lewin has engaged in trial and appellate litigation in federal and state courts for more than 55 years. He has been voted by his peers to be included in “The Best Lawyers in America” in the District of Columbia for all of the 25 editions of that volume. He is now listed among the “Best Lawyers” in the following four practice areas: Appellate Practice, Commercial Litigation, White-Collar Criminal Defense, and First Amendment Litigation.
Mr. Lewin has argued 28 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States and drafted and filed more than 235 briefs in that Court. Mr. Lewin is a member of the Bars of every Circuit United States Court of Appeals, has argued appeals in every Federal Circuit, and has filed hundreds of briefs in federal and state appellate and trial courts.
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Mr. Lewin was law clerk to Chief Judge J. Edward Lumbard of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1960-1961) and to Associate Justice John M. Harlan of the Supreme Court of the United States (1961-1962). Mr. Lewin also served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice (1968 – 1969), and as Deputy Administrator of the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs at the Department of State (1967 – 1968). On leaving government service, Mr. Lewin was a founding partner of Miller Cassidy Larroca and Lewin, which was one of the nation’s foremost litigation “boutiques” for more than thirty years.
Mr. Lewin’s clients have included then-incumbent Attorney General Edwin Meese III in an Independent Counsel criminal investigation; former President Richard Nixon in the Supreme Court case testing the constitutionality of the taking of Presidential papers and tapes; actress Jodie Foster during the criminal trial of John Hinckley; performer John Lennon in the successful appeal of his immigration case; Barnett Bank to establish in the Supreme Court the right of national banks to sell insurance; the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (“AIPAC”) in a federal criminal investigation, 47th Street Photo to establish in the Supreme Court the right to sell discounted trademark merchandise in the United States; Chabad-Lubavitch in federal litigation (including a landmark Supreme Court case) over the display of menorahs on public property and federal lawsuits relating to the libraries of the Fifth and Sixth Rebbes; the Satmar Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel in litigation to the Supreme Court over public financing of a school for handicapped children; and an American citizen born in Jerusalem to enforce, in two appearances before the Supreme Court, the statutory right to list “Israel” as his place of birth in a US passport.
For the past 20 years Mr. Lewin has taught a seminar at Columbia Law School on “Religious Minorities in Supreme Court Litigation.” He previously taught that seminar at the University of Chicago Law School and was Visiting Professor from Practice at Harvard Law School in 1973-1974. He has also taught at Georgetown and George Washington Law Schools.
Alyza D. Lewin
Alyza D. Lewin is a co-founder and partner in Lewin & Lewin, LLP where she specializes in litigation, mediation and government relations. She is also the President and General Counsel of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, a non-profit organization established to advance the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and promote justice for all. The Brandeis Center conducts research, education and advocacy to combat the resurgence of anti-Semitism on college and university campuses.
Ms. Lewin has represented numerous high-profile clients including victims of religious discrimination. In 2014, Lewin argued Zivotofsky v. Kerry (the “Jerusalem Passport” case) before the U.S. Supreme Court, a case involving the constitutionality of a law granting any American citizen born in Jerusalem the right to list “Israel” as the place of birth on his/her U.S. passport. Ms. Lewin was involved in the 12-year pro-bono litigation conducted by her firm in the District of Columbia courts and in the Supreme Court of the United States.
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Ms. Lewin, together with her father Nathan Lewin, also successfully represented the Boim family in its landmark civil tort litigation which established the right of American victims of terror to obtain damages under American law against organizations that knowingly provide financial support to international terrorist groups. Boim v. Holy Land Foundation for Relief, 549 F.3d 685 (7th Cir. 2008).
Prior to establishing Lewin & Lewin in May 2002, Ms. Lewin worked at Wilmer Cutler and Pickering (now WilmerHale) and at Miller Cassidy Larroca and Lewin. Ms. Lewin began her law career in Israel where she clerked for the Deputy President of the Supreme Court, Justice Menachem Elon. Ms. Lewin is the Immediate Past President of the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists (“AAJLJ”). She served as AAJLJ President from 2012 – 2017. She was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Community Relations Council (“JCRC”) of Greater Washington and was on the Board of Directors of the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia.
Ms. Lewin is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and New York. She was trained as a mediator by the American Arbitration Association and the Center for Dispute Settlement. Ms. Lewin received her B.A. from Princeton University in 1988 and a J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1992. She is married to Eliezer M. Halbfinger and has four children.