Aaron M. Lewis 

Aaron M. Lewis is a founding member of Covington & Burling LLP’s Los Angeles office and co-chair of the firm’s white collar defense and investigations practice. As companies strive to meet workforce diversity and other equality goals, he and his teams are pioneers in performing civil rights and racial equity audits for clients like Citibank, BlackRock, Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Dow Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co.

“My work is fundamentally about good strong corporate governance and the promotion of equality,” Lewis said.

His practice folds together investigations with the firm’s employment law expertise. “The field is expanding. Boards of directors are paying attention to this,” Lewis said. He credits his strong collaboration with colleague Lindsay B. Burke, a partner in Covington’s Washington, D.C. office and co-chair of the firm’s employment practice group. “Covington is one of the first firms to work in this space,” Lewis said.

Lewis graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, then clerked for Judge Ronald M. Gould of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “He was a wonderful mentor and counselor,” Lewis said of Gould. “The thoroughness of his reasoning and analysis set a very, very high bar I’ve tried to meet in my work every day.”

He began at Covington as an associate assigned to partners Eric H. Holder Jr. and Lanny A. Breuer on a large investigation, setting his career path. In 2008, Holder called him into his office. Lewis said he brought along his legal pad, anticipating a new assignment. He was right, but the job was more than he’d anticipated. Holder, about to be named President Barack Obama’s attorney general, asked if Lewis would join him at the Department of Justice as his counsel.

His attorney father had warned him about impetuosity, but Lewis didn’t hesitate. “I found myself saying yes.”

Lewis returned to Covington in 2015. The next year began the evolving intersection of traditional internal corporate investigations with the environmental, social and governance movement. It was a development squarely within Lewis’ wheelhouse.

In 2022, he led a team of Covington lawyers engaged by Citi to conduct a racial equity audit as part of its effort to address the racial wealth gap in the U.S. Part of the plan was the design and implementation of its Action for Racial Equality initiative, a $1 billion commitment to close the gap and promote economic mobility.

That was typical of Lewis’ efforts. “The work goes on,” he said. “In 2021, there were fewer than six such reports in this space; that number is up to 16 by now across all sectors of the economy.” BlackRock published its diversity, equity and inclusion assessment and report in April 2023. Verizon’s equity audit also came that month. Dow has announced it is collaborating with Investor Advocates for Social Justice to produce a report this year.

“I’m pleased that companies continue to reach out to us,” Lewis said.

—John Roemer