Sekou Lewis, ’12, has been appointed general counsel for the Dallas Mavericks, the National Basketball Association’s 2011 champions.

The move to Dallas represents a homecoming of sorts for Lewis, who worked as a leadership and player development specialist for IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida before coming to law school. Lewis played basketball professionally for Caudillos de Morelos in Mexico after receiving his BA from American University, where he played on the Division I Men’s Basketball Team.

From 2012 until July 2018, Lewis was an associate at Schnader Harrison, representing private and public companies, nonprofit organizations and municipalities in real estate and corporate matters. He also served as vice chair of the firm’s Sports Law team. During his tenure at Schnader, he also served on the Juvenile Law Center board of directors.

While at Schnader, Lewis supervised law students completing co-op placements at the firm, which he viewed as a way of repaying the law school. Discussing his mentoring role during a 2017 interview, Lewis suggested that basketball was never far from his mind. Lewis said he discouraged students from focusing on their mistakes or "missed shots."

"You want to create an environment that focuses on a goal," he said. "Once I knew that as a player, I didn't focus as much on mistakes. It eliminated noise."