Duncan Lewis has practiced criminal law for 38 years. His practice is focused solely on representing clients charged with sex-related offenses. Many of his clients' careers have been based in the Seattle Tech Hub and the Washington State ICT Sector. To learn more about his individualized, client-focused approach, please click on Discreet Representation in the menu. 

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Even before he graduated with a perfect score in Professional Responsibility (lawyer ethics), in his third year of law school Mr. Lewis tried his first jury trial, winning a hung jury for his client.

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That same year, while still a student, he wrote a "death penalty mitigation packet" that persuaded the local prosecutor's office not to seek the death penalty for a young man.

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As a public defender in Seattle for 18 years, Mr. Lewis successfully represented countless clients charged with serious felonies.

 

Early in his career as a public defender, he challenged the constitutionality of the  city's Drug Traffic Loitering law and received nationwide press coverage. In 2019 a KOMO radio interview of Mr. Lewis on changes in the law arising from developments in brain science became the subject of their podcast. 

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From 1999-2006, Mr. Lewis was the founding and lead defense counsel for Seattle's Mental Health Court, one of the first such courts in the nation, a therapeutic court designed to divert people being arrested for undiagnosed or untreated mental health issues into treatment, benefits and support networks instead of jail. The work of Duncan Lewis and the Mental Health Court team was professionally reviewed by the University of Washington and presented in the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry.

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Mr. Lewis gave presentations on the Mental Health Court to elected officials and policy makers from around the state, the country, and the world. He has guest-lectured on the ethical considerations in representing client's with mental health concerns at Seattle University College of Law and as a faculty lecturer for continuing legal education courses for other lawyers. In 2005 he and his team were invited presenters in Vancouver, British Columbia where Mr. Lewis lectured on the intersection of law and mental health.

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​Upon entering private practice, Mr. Lewis discovered that lawyers working for law firms were often overwhelmed with cases and workload, as their employers sought more and more clients and fees.

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Now Mr. Lewis practices criminal law his way; he believes that the law of sex offenses is so complex with so much at stake for clients that no lawyer can practice in a variety of other areas while staying current  on the law and practice of sex offense defense, and maintaining ongoing experience in that area of practice requires a lawyer's full attention. 

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Mr. Lewis also limits the number of clients he represents at any one time, so that each client and their case gets the attention and devotion they deserve.

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Education: 

• Bachelor of Arts, University of Puget Sound

• Doctor of Jurisprudence, Willamette University College of Law

Bar Association and Professional Memberships:

• ​Washington State Bar Association

• United States District Court, Western District of Washington

• Tribal Courts 

• King County Bar Association

• Washington Defender Association

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