Allison Lewis has been a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society Criminal Defense Practice (CDP) since graduating from Brooklyn Law School in 2005. She joined the DNA Unit in 2013 and the Homicide Defense Task Force (HDTF) in 2019. Allison currently works with the Manhattan trial office, trying cases and assisting attorneys with assessing DNA results, drafting motions, litigating admissibility challenges and preparing defense strategies for trials with DNA and forensics issues. She gives regular training on DNA testing, forensic methods and challenges throughout New York City and the country. She presented at the American Association of Forensic Science (AAFS) annual meeting in 2021 and copresented with Dr. Andrew Baker in 2024 (entitled “In a Manner of Speaking: A Medical and Legal Perspective on the Problem of Manner of Death Testimony in Criminal Trials and What We (All) Should be Doing About it”). In September of 2023, Allison presented at the International Symposium on Human Identification (ISHI) in Denver, Colorado. That presentation was entitled, “Consider the Defense: How (and When) the Defense Might Successfully Communicate with Labs, and Why Labs Should Listen.” Allison is also a voting member of the Medicolegal Death Investigation AAFS Standards Board (ASB) Consensus Body and is the Chairperson of the MDI ASB Cognitive Bias Working Group. She is also a voting member of the Firearms and Toolmarks ASB Consensus Body. She is published on DNA collection and privacy, authoring “End Guilt by Genetic Association in New York” (5/24/22) and “The NYPD’s new DNA Dragnet,” (2/8/19) both published in The Daily News, and “Don’t Allow Genetic Stop and Frisk,” published in Newsday (3/23/17).
