[3] Lewis was the Director of Clinical Education and an assistant professor at the North Carolina Central University School of Law, from 1976 until 1977.

From 1974 until 1976, he was the Director of Clinical Education, this time at the Duke University School of Law.

In 1974, he was a trial attorney for the Durham Legal Aid Office.

Prior to that, from 1969 until 1970, he served as general counsel to the Board of Directors for the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi.

In 1969, he was an adjunct professor at Tougaloo College, and from 1966 until 1970, he had been a staff attorney for the Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee.