Maria L.H. Lewis is the Chief Diversity Officer of Faegre Drinker LLP. Maria provides vision and leadership to instill and develop a firm culture that builds, values, and supports diversity, equity, and inclusion. She leads the creation and implementation of programs that address workplace culture and collaboration.
Maria is also a member of the firm’s executive leadership team. In this capacity, Maria partners with the firm Chair, Executive Partners, and Chief Operating Officer on the firm’s strategy and management.
Additionally, Maria serves the firm’s clients by providing litigation counsel on challenging employment issues in the workplace and conducting corporate training programs to improve workplace culture, DEI efforts, and reduce legal risks.
Maria has won numerous awards for her efforts, including: the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Women of Influence Award (2023); the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Albert S. Dandridge, III Diversity Award (2023); The Legal Intelligencer’s Law Firm Innovator Award (2021) and Best Mentor Award (2019); and the Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia, Inc.’s Justice Juanita Kidd Stout Woman of Distinction Award (2019). She is the immediate past co-president of the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group and a board member of LEADERSHIP Philadelphia.
Maria is a graduate of the Harvard Law School (1997) and the University of Pittsburgh Honors College, magna cum laude (1994).
