Lisa M. Friel joined T&M Protection Resources in October 2011 as Vice President of the Sexual Misconduct Consulting & Investigations division following a distinguished 25 year career as a Manhattan prosecutor. This division offers consulting, education, training and investigative services to a wide variety of organizations, including schools, colleges and universities, religious institutions, government agencies, hospitals, corporations, labor unions, sports teams and leagues, and law firms representing clients in civil and criminal matters involving sexual misconduct.
Hired by Robert M. Morgenthau, the District Attorney of New York County, in 1983, Ms. Friel specialized in sex crimes cases for the majority of her career. She was the Chief of the Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit in the New York County District Attorney's Office for nearly a decade and its Deputy Chief for 11 years under Chief Linda A. Fairstein. Supervising more than 40 assistant district attorneys, support staff and investigators, she typically managed 300 cases and investigations at any one time.
Since her first days as a prosecutor in 1983, Ms. Friel has directed thousands of criminal investigations, has helped convict innumerable sex offenders, murderers, and other felons and has trained hundreds of law enforcement personnel throughout the world. Lawmakers in Albany and Washington repeatedly called upon her expertise to toughen laws against sexual predators, combat human trafficking, create DNA databanks and establish laws and protocols to eliminate the backlog of untested rape kits on the shelves of police departments' evidence rooms around the country.
An internationally recognized expert on sex crimes prosecutions, Ms. Friel has investigated and supervised complex cases involving sexual assault and harassment, human trafficking, workplace violence, child pornography, internet predators, unlawful surveillance, theft and fraud. She has gained a reputation for being incredibly thorough, sensitive and creative in her work, a skilled interviewer and investigator, and someone with great intelligence, experience and good judgment. She's been hailed as a "consummate professional" by many in her field. Among her honors: a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mt. Sinai Medical Center Sexual Assault Victims' Intervention Program; Outstanding Prosecutor of the Year Award from the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault; awards for Distinguished Leadership and Outstanding Service from St. Luke's /Roosevelt Hospital Center.
An instructor, educator, and lecturer, Ms. Friel has connected with diverse audiences ranging from seasoned detectives to school children, doctors to volunteer sexual assault advocates. She has headlined legal conferences and law enforcement training sessions and participated in numerous interviews and films addressing sexual harassment and assault, rape and domestic violence.
She was among the Manhattan prosecutors featured in an acclaimed HBO 2011 documentary, Sex Crimes Unit. In 2009, Inside Edition interviewed Ms. Friel for a segment entitled Nightclub Dangers. She also appeared in an Emmy-nominated series of educational videos, Clicking with Caution, produced by the New York City Mayor's Criminal Justice Coordinator's Office.
Ms. Friel earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from Dartmouth College, graduating cum laude. At the University of Virginia School of Law, she finished in the top seven percent of her class and was awarded the Order of the Coif upon receiving her Juris Doctor.