Lurie's research specialties were ethnohistory, action anthropology and museology; her areal focus was on North American Indians, especially the Ho-Chunk (aka Winnebago) and the Dogrib (Tlicho) of the Canadian NWT; and the comparative study of territorial minorities.
Between 1954 and 1963, Lurie worked frequently as a researcher and expert witness for tribal petitioners in cases brought before the United States Indian Claims Commission, including the Lower Kutenai (Ktunaxa), Lower Kalispel (Kalispel), and Quileute of the Pacific Northwest; and the Sac and Fox Nation, Winnebago (aka Ho-Chunk), Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, and Eastern Potawatomi of the Upper Midwest.
After 1963 Lurie appeared as an expert witness representing the Wisconsin Chippewa (Ojibwe) and Menominee in federal courts on land claims and related issues.
She notes that ethnologists are people "trained to collect cultural data in an impartial manner and to draw valid conclusions from myriad scattered facts" and may be considered reliable witnesses to provide testimony in ethnic claims, but acknowledged there can be difficulty in assessing scholarly positions in a court of law.
Lurie used this experience for more than a decade (1962–1975) in Action projects with the Wisconsin Winnebago, the United Indians of Milwaukee, and the Menominee.
In this period, Lurie was also appointed to the State of Wisconsin Historical Preservation Review Board (1972–1979), served on review committees of the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities during the 1970s and 1980s, was a member of the board of trustees for the Center for the Study of American Indian History of the Newberry Library in Chicago (now the D'Arcy McNickle Center...), and served on the editorial board for Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, VA (1978–1980).