B.A., Louisiana State; J.D., The Catholic University of America
Jeff Lewis is a senior attorney advisor in the U.S. Coast Guard Judge Advocate General’s Office of Maritime and International Law in Washington, DC. He is the Coast Guard’s senior civilian attorney advising the military service on a range of matters across its marine safety, security, and environmental protection missions, including matters of vessel inspection, documentation, and safety; merchant vessel personnel; navigation; aquatic invasive species; ports and waterways safety and security; and marine casualty investigations. Prior to working for the Coast Guard, Professor Lewis served as a senior Democratic counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation from 2009 to 2019, where he played a central role in the enactment into law of a number of important pieces of maritime and marine environmental legislation, including the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act of 2018, the Port State Measures Agreement Act of 2015, the Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Enforcement Act of 2015, the Shark Conservation Act of 2010, and a number of Coast Guard authorization acts and international fishery agreement implementing acts. He also managed the Committee’s inquiries into several high profile marine casualties, including the El Faro in 2015, the Carnival Triumph in 2013, the Costa Concordia in 2012, and the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon in 2010. Prior to working for the Committee, Professor Lewis worked from 2000 to 2008 as an associate attorney in the Washington, D.C., office of Mayer Brown LLP, where he advised clients on a variety of regulatory and legislative matters. Before his time at Mayer Brown, he worked as a legislative aide to the Hon. John Breaux in the U.S. Senate and, before that, as executive assistant to the Hon. W.J. “Billy” Tauzin in the U.S. House of Representatives. Professor Lewis holds a B.A. in political science from Louisiana State University and a J.D. from Catholic University. He is a 2019 recipient of the U.S. Coast Guard Meritorious Public Service Award, awarded by the Commandant in recognition of notable services that assisted greatly in furthering the aims and functions of the Coast Guard.