Eric L. Lewis

On October 19, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted Guantánamo detainee Asadullah Haroon Gul’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus, ruling that his detention is unlawful. The decision marks the first time a Guantánamo Bay detainee has won a habeas corpus petition in the last ten years.

One source commented, “I can’t think of an improvement to its practice. We’ve worked with several leading international law firms and in our experience when it comes to complex, high-stakes issues Lewis Baach provides unmatched value.”

The United States needs to consider carefully whether its treaty advantages and broad jurisdictional statutes should be aggressively used to bring foreign defendants to the United States when the American interest is limited and when other countries may have a greater interest in applying their own statutes, and their own penalty structures.

As the suicide of U.S. Olympics gymnastics coach John Geddert, and the sexual abuse suit against previous coach Don Peters, reverberate across the globe, it will be all too easy for governing bodies to again dismiss the abuse allegations as isolated incidents.

In a decision issued on Feb. 5, the U.K. Supreme Court quashed a notice pursuant to Section 2(3) of the 1987 Criminal Justice Act, that sought to require a U.S. corporation, KBR Inc., to produce documents located in the U.S.  The decision has important consequences for cross-border discovery and investigations, as the U.S. and the U.K. appear to be taking divergent approaches.

Over my years as a law professor and practitioner, I have read thousands of draft pleadings written by law students and junior lawyers. Their quality varies, but I would be hard-pressed to think of a more incompetent piece of advocacy than that produced by Donald Trump’s defense team.

The Five Horsepersons of the New Apocalypse — Justices Barrett, Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh — will usher in years if not decades of reactionary decision-making that could transform the United States beyond recognition

Eric Lewis is interviewed extensively in The Andorra Hustle, a documentary by Eric Merola about FinCEN's use of the USA PATRIOT Act to shut down Banca Privada d'Andorra.

The coronavirus pandemic has not only caused untold misery, it has forced the virtual shutdown of the global economy. Everyone hopes that this crisis will pass, but events have shown there is a false choice between mitigation and resumption of economic activity. Mitigation, with testing and social distancing, must be done to avoid wave after wave of disease, which will only lead to rolling cessations of economic activity. Given the economic dislocation occasioned by this global crisis and that it is likely to continue for at least a few more months, we can anticipate that many businesses will fail, and others will require time and help to restore financial health and operations. There is little doubt that innumerable global businesses will need the protection of an organized and coordinated insolvency and reorganization process as soon as this crisis is over. The time for them to begin planning is now.

In recent weeks, the world has been engulfed by the spread of COVID-19 as governments scramble to protect their citizens and avoid the collapse of public health systems and long-term damage to their economies. The wide-ranging efforts to flatten the curve of COVID-19 has created a tidal wave of ramifications for an international business community that is today more interconnected than ever, and led to high levels of uncertainty surrounding current and future contractual obligations. At a time when government policies fluctuate daily and courts and arbitration centers are becoming increasingly inaccessible to resolve active disputes, it is difficult for a party to seek or obtain interim measures or relief. From country to country and company to company, the responses have not been uniform: some commercial parties have continued to perform their obligations, while others have argued for wholesale abdication of their responsibilities, and still others are somewhere in between. Certain trends of government action and commercial response are emerging worldwide, no less so in the hyper-connected global businesses that are found in the Middle East.

In these tough times, when clients are looking to protect assets and increase revenue, it is more important than ever to ensure that their arbitral awards are collectible. A truly successful outcome requires the ability to enforce and monetize the award that was won in the arbitration. When faced with a recalcitrant award debtor, it is imperative to think strategically and work closely with counsel and experts to enforce and identify recoverable assets.

Eric Lewis focuses on three key areas: (1) the widening of the net from sanctioned individuals to their families; (2) the application of the evasion provisions to foreign persons; (3) the bringing of new classes within existing sanctions.

Escrito por Eric L. Lewis, Manuel S. Varela and Cristián Francos.

Authored by Eric L. Lewis, Manuel S. Varela and Cristían Francos.

La Ley (Suplemento Finanzas Para Abogados, Universidad del CEMA)

Escrito por Eric L. Lewis, Manuel S. Varela and Cristián Francos.

Authored by Eric L. Lewis, Manuel S. Varela and Cristián Francos.

Presented by Eric L. Lewis, Manuel S. Varela & Cristián Francos.

Presentation by Eric L. Lewis & A. Katherine Toomey.

Eric L. Lewis, address to the Commercial Bar Association of England and Wales (COMBAR).

Eric L. Lewis delivered address at the Commercial Bar Association of England and Wales (COMBAR)

When I first began working on behalf of Guantanamo detainees in 2002, I would never have believed that twenty years after the first detainees arrived on January 11, 2002, there would still be 39 men at the prison, 28 of whom have never been charged with anything. Nearly 800 men have processed through the prison over the last 20 years, some there for a few years, many more for decades.

On December 9, 2021, the Biden administration published the first-ever United States Strategy on Countering Corruption. This Strategy sets forth a “whole-of-government” approach to combating corruption in the United States and around the world. Individuals and entities should expect an increase in sanctions and scrutiny of activities that present high corruption-related risk. As such, companies and individuals should immediately review current business activities to ensure that they understand their exposure to corruption-related risk and have in place commensurate controls to deter and detect potential problems. A proactive approach to corruption risk now will provide material future benefits if the expected increase in regulatory and law enforcement scrutiny results in a corruption-related inquiry.

A federal judge has found that a former Afghan militant has been held unlawfully at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, the first time in 10 years that a detainee has won such a case against the U.S. government, his lawyers said.

A federal judge has ruled that the United States has no legal basis for holding an Afghan man at Guantánamo Bay.

A US federal court has ruled that a detainee at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre has been unlawfully kept there, several days after he was cleared to be transferred out of the military prison.

The US court granted the petition for a writ of habeas corpus for Asadullah Haroon Gul, who has been detained without charge by the US since 2007. The decision marks the first time in a decade a Guantanamo detainee's imprisonment has been ruled unlawful.

Who's Who Legal recognized four Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss lawyers as leading asset recovery practitioners for 2021. 

Eric Lewis was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article on the shifting culture of American gymnastics in the wake of abuse allegations and criminal charges.

Back in 2009, Eric Lewis warned In These Times readers that closing Gitmo was not enough — that if the United States wants to reaffirm the rule of law, it must ensure that all of its prisoners are given due process. 

Eric Lewis appeared on Corporate Counsel Business Journal's daily podcast, In House Warrior, to discuss extradition, OFAC sanctions, and what to expect from the Biden administration.

Eric Lewis, a Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC partner, told Law360 that the Civil Division is likely the branch of the DOJ most in need of a morale boost.

"It's overwhelmingly staffed by career people who have really suffered through the last four years, and they've lost a lot of good people too," he said. "These are people who just want to do their job and not impose any ideology."

A lawyer for Mohamed Soltan, a US citizen who has filed a lawsuit alleging torture in Egyptian custody, said that plain-clothes officers raided the homes of six family members Sunday, detaining two cousins.

"Now the Egyptian regime is arresting his relatives to try to intimidate him into silence. Such tactics have no place in the international community," said Eric Lewis, a lawyer for Soltan.

"Now the Egyptian regime is arresting his relatives to try to intimidate him into silence," said Soltan's lawyer Eric Lewis. "Such tactics have no place in the international community. Egypt cannot seek the benefits of membership in that community while denigrating human rights and behaving with impunity and lawlessness."

Law360's Aebra Coe interviewed leaders at three law firms, including LBKM's Eric Lewis, on the changing ways that associates can demonstrate their value and engage with those in power in a pandemic-era work environment.

Two Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss professionals have been recognized as Global Leaders in Who’s Who Legal: Asset Recovery 2020.  Who’s Who Legal is one of the world’s leading directories of legal practitioners.

Senior Partner Eric Lewis was quoted in AP on the extradition hearing of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

'Looking forward from this improbable ninth week of shutdown, I believe that litigation is about to enter another sea change,' writes Eric Lewis, a senior partner at litigation boutique Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss.

Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC is pleased to announce that three of its lawyers have been named to the 2020 Washington, DC Super Lawyers list. Each year, no more than five percent of the lawyers in each state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor. 

The business of law is personal, and the human interaction cannot be fully replaced by technology, particularly for those that practice on an international scale. Lewis Baach senior partner Eric Lewis, who usually travels the globe to meet with clients, offers his personal take on how he and his firm are coping during the pandemic.

This article sets out the basic process for obtaining extradition to the United States and reviews certain recent cases that suggest that the United States is trying to leverage its political power to bring defendants to the United States either to fulfill political agendas or where the United States’ interest is tangential at best in view of the demonstrable interest of other countries.

Six LBKM professionals have been selected to the 2019 New York and Washington, DC Super Lawyers lists - an honor limited to 5 percent of the lawyers in each state. In addition, one LBKM professional has been selected to the 2019 New York Rising Stars list. 

Four Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss professionals have been recognized as Global Leaders in Who’s Who Legal: Asset Recovery 2019. Who’s Who Legal is one of the world’s leading directories of legal practitioners.

Bolton may be guilty of serious errors of judgment and defects of character. But he refused to play Trump's game — and now he might be the country's most valuable savior

Eric Lewis was quoted in The Washington Post on the allegations in the whistleblower complaint recently filed against President Trump.

Law360 asked Eric Lewis and other law firm leaders about the most common career blunders they see new attorneys make.

Founding partner Eric Lewis was asked, as part of Law360's ongoing interview series, “What one trait is most important for a law firm partner?”

An amended complaint filed in Miami-Dade County alleges that Amicorp, an international trust services company, actively participated in a multi-million-dollar real estate fraud which victimized many Latin American families. 

Mr. Lewis reflecting on what he looks forward to each day in his job:  "One of the things I like about our firm and a firm our size is the continuity and trust of the people I work with, most of whom I've worked with for a long time. I think all of us buy into the concept we have here, which is being very public spirited, very flexible, very supportive, and trying to use our skills not only on commercial matters but also trying to do some good as well.”

Eric Lewis is quoted saying, “The ability to understand a case, price a case, look at a case honestly and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses becomes more important.”

Woodsford Litigation Funding, one of the leading global third party funders, has announced a funding facility agreement with Lewis Baach which ensures the firm can offer clients an expedited, one-stop arrangement for the financing of high value litigation and arbitration.

"The ability to understand a case, price a case and look at a case honestly — to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses — becomes more important," said Eric Lewis of  Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC. "I spend more time on strategy than I did 10 to 15 years ago. I spend more time talking to clients as cases go along."

Eric Lewis of Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss writes: Good lawyers don't get stuck in boxes. They are problem solvers who bring judgment and experience to their clients' issues, whoever those clients may be. They try to prevent economic interests from affecting their service to clients. They earn trust. Satisfaction in the law can be, and should be, measured in more than one way.

As the market continues to pound out a separation between the niche players and the global elites, major legal consumers are increasingly turning to boutique firms for some of their more challenging work. Between their dexterity, fee flexibility, and, depending on the size of the boutique, deeper resources, we are seeing a growing interest in boutiques and niche firms in the legal market.

For two years, stock traders and the attorneys who represent them said the law surrounding insider trading was a muddle, with no one knowing what exactly is or isn’t legal.
The U.S. Supreme Court Dec. 6 said it had ‘‘easily’’ settled the question (Salman v. United States, 2016 BL 404795, U.S., No. 15-628, 12/6/16).

‘‘Going forward, even remote tippees of inside information are at risk if the government can demonstrate that the defendant knew he was trading on inside information and the chain of disclosure is sufficiently close, even if no money changes hands.’’ Eric Lewis, Lewis Baach PLLC

Eric Lewis got a phone call from an old friend’s sister shortly after he wrote an op-ed in The New York Times in 2013 detailing his time playing under a high school football coach who was also a serial sexual predator.

That call ultimately led Lewis to take a turn this week as a journalist—a departure from his busy career as a prominent lawyer handling international fraud disputes, including representing Bernie Madoff’s investment firm in its liquidation—at his nearly 40-lawyer firm Lewis Baach in Washington, D.C.

The Appellate Division, First Department, recently affirmed the dismissal of various claims brought by New Greenwich Litigation Trustee, successor to the claims of two feeder funds in the Bernard Madoff affair, against various third-party fund administrators, accountants and auditors.

Mr. Lewis said that “there is no there there” on the allegations of any Saudi government role in the attacks, given the kingdom’s long history of being at war with Al Qaeda.

“The notion that senior Saudi officials or the Saudi government had an interest in supporting Sept. 11 and the attack on the World Trade Center is patently absurd,” he said.