Lauren Ouziel teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence, and Civil Procedure. Her research focuses on institutional dynamics in criminal investigation and adjudication. Her prior work has explored how these dynamics affect a variety of areas, including case disposition and sentencing, evidentiary doctrine, the exercise of enforcement discretion, and perceptions of legitimacy.
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, where she taught Evidence, Criminal Law and National Security 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.