The Hon. David L. Lewis is an Acting Justice of the Bronx County Supreme Court, Criminal Term in the Twelfth Judicial District of New York. Justice Lewis was originally appointed to serve as a judge for the New York State Court of Claims by Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2018.
He received his B.A. from New York University in 1976. Lewis went on to earn a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in 1979.
Shortly after graduating from law school, he briefly worked as a law secretary to the Hon. Gabriel Krausman with the Kings County Criminal Court (1980) before entering into private practice. During his time in private practice, he became a partner at Lewis and Fiore. Lewis would maintain his law practice there for thirty-eight years. His law practice centered on white collar and organized crime, defending the likes of General Manuel Noriega, members of the Irish Republican Army, a CIA Agent, and a New York Police Officer. He also participated in a trial that involved the infamous Gambino crime family.
In 1980, he also began a three-year tenure as chief counsel to New York State Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore William F. Passannanate. This would prove to be his first foray into the political arena.
In 1990, Lewis worked as special counsel to the New York State Senate Select Committee on Arts and Cultural Affairs for Senator Roy M. Goodman. Later, in 2000, he rejoined Senator Goodman, working briefly as his assistant legislative counsel. He also briefly served as Senator Goodman’s chief counsel in 2001. The following year, Lewis then worked as the general counsel to Senator Pedro Espada, Jr., where his time there was also brief. In 2003, he became counsel to the New York State Senate’s Member and Conference Services, where he would remain until 2011. It was at that time, he then became counsel to the Majority Leader with the Senate. He would hold this position until his appointment to the Court of Claims bench in 2018.
In addition to his role as counsel with the State’s Senate, Lewis also worked as counsel to the Kings County Public Administrator from 2008 to 2018.
Lewis has taught clinical law and trial advocacy as an adjunct professor at Pace University School of Law. He has also taught continuing legal education in several states across the country and served as an advisory board member and instructor at Darrow/Baldus Death Penalty Defense College in Iowa. He was a panel member of the New York State Office of Court Administration Judicial Training and a chair and member of the Board of Regents of the National Criminal Defense College at Mercer University, Walter F. George School of Law in Macon Georgia.
