Featured Faculty

Patty Lewis

Specialties / Areas of Practice

• Education Law

Bio

Born in an era when women were insignificant and men dominated the work force, I always knew I could be a secretary Della Street but it never occurred to me that I could be a lawyer like Perry Mason. 

While attending college as an English major I worked as a Legal Secretary, Paralegal and then Director of Legal Services for a plaintiff personal injury law firm.  While in law school, I was certified by the California Bar to practice as a lawyer under the supervision of attorney William Tyson.  

When my daughter grew to high school age, I decided it was time to sit for the Bar Exam, which I passed twenty years out of law school. 

For over ten years I've represented children and adults in the education field, both in the administrative arena and in litigation in State and Federal Court.   Today my practice emphasizes special education law from preschool through high school, athlete eligibility in high school before the California Interscholastic Federation ("CIF"),  bullying in private and public schools, private postsecondary education fraud and postsecondary student loan issues. 

Education & Admissions

• US District Court, Central District of California, 2010
• US Supreme Court, 2007
• US Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 2005
• US District Court, Southern District of California, 2001
• California State Bar, 2001
• Trial Lawyers College, Dubois, Wyoming, 2004
• Western State University, College of Law, San Diego, JD, 1980
• San Diego State University, BA with Distinction, 1975

Awards and Recognition

• American Inns of Court, 2009
• San Diego State University, 1975

Professional Affiliations

• Consumer Attorneys of San Diego
• San Diego Bar Association
• American Inns of Court, Louis M. Welsh Inn No. 9
• Delta Theta Phi

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