Lauren Ouziel is a scholar of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Federal Criminal Law and Evidence. Her research focuses on relational dynamics among and between the criminal system’s institutional actors (prosecutors, law enforcement agents, courts and the defense bar) and has explored how these dynamics influence varied aspects of the criminal process, including case disposition and sentencing, fact-finder selection, evidentiary doctrine, the exercise of enforcement discretion, and perceptions of legitimacy. Her work has appeared in leading law journals, including the Yale Law Journal, the Virginia Law Review and the Notre Dame Law Review, among other venues.
Prior to entering academia Professor Ouziel was a federal prosecutor for eight years, serving in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and later the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In that capacity she investigated and prosecuted a wide range of criminal matters including financial and securities frauds, national security offenses, narcotics, violent gangs, and corruption, trying numerous cases to verdict and arguing a number of appeals. From 2002 to 2004, Professor Ouziel was an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in New York, where she focused on complex commercial civil litigation. Prior to joining the Temple faculty, Professor Ouziel served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Villanova University School of Law.
Professor Ouziel received her BA in history from Harvard University and her JD from Columbia University School of Law, where she was the Writing and Research Editor of the Columbia Law Review and a James Kent Scholar and Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. Following graduation from law school, she clerked for Judge Lewis Kaplan of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.