Lisa N. Cloutier represents students and employee survivors of sexual harassment and assault and survivors of harassment based on gender identity and expression, assisting them in obtaining justice through school Title IX proceedings, civil litigation, Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) complaints, and Clery complaints.  As a former Supervisory Attorney at the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, Ms. Cloutier also represents survivors of other types of discrimination, including disability and race discrimination. As a high-level athlete herself, Ms. Cloutier represents athletes who are harassed and assaulted in SafeSport and other proceedings.

Ms. Cloutier is a national expert with over fifteen years of experience in successfully advocating for survivors at K-12 schools and higher education institutions, and in policy work on these issues. Ms. Cloutier’s track record of results for her courageous clients regularly has included obtaining course final grade changes, significant tuition refunds and monetary awards, the suspension and expulsion of student perpetrators, the suspension and other significant, permanent sanctions against tenured faculty members at the top national universities, and policy changes. Ms. Cloutier also routinely obtains many other results for her clients, including interim measures and accommodations that assist her clients to stay in school, eliminate the impact of the assault or harassment on their academics, and begin the healing process. As an expert on trauma-informed investigative practices and interactions with sexual assault survivors and who has written training curricula for over twenty-five universities on these issues, Ms. Cloutier always brings a trauma-sensitive approach to her work with survivors, which leads her to form strong, productive relationships with her clients.

Most recently, Ms. Cloutier won a case on behalf of a graduate student in which another graduate student at a prestigious midwestern graduate school was found responsible for Title IX retaliation. Ms. Cloutier won another case at a southwestern university on behalf of a nonbinary undergraduate student in which another undergraduate student was found responsible for sexual harassment, including multiple instances of sexual assault and sexual assault with an object, in a series of violations over multiple years. In the same proceeding, Ms. Cloutier’s client was found not responsible for multiple Title IX claims against them filed by the perpetrator.

Previously, Ms. Cloutier served as a Supervisory General Attorney/Compliance Team Leader at the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, where she supervised a team of six attorneys and investigators in enforcing federal civil rights laws, including Title IX. Prior to working at OCR, Ms. Cloutier served as a consultant to Futures Without Violence and other organizations and universities regarding civil rights in education, with a particular focus on sexual assault, sexual harassment, and gender-based harassment.

Ms. Cloutier also practiced for five years in the Complex Commercial Litigation Group at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, a large, international law firm. Ms. Cloutier secured multi-million dollar settlements for clients, guided clients successfully through regulatory inquiries, and won lawsuits at the trial and appellate levels.

Immediately after law school, Ms. Cloutier clerked for U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.

When she’s not lawyering, Ms. Cloutier is an internationally-competitive triathlete. She is currently a member of the U.S. Triathlon National Team. For 2022, Ms. Cloutier qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships (Half Ironman) distance and the Olympic distance.

Education:

• J.D., Harvard Law School
  • Managing Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender
  • President of Students Organized for the Prevention of Domestic Violence (“Stop DV”)
  • Co-Writer of the 1st Law in the Nation Enabling GPS Tracking of Domestic Violence Offenders at a High Risk of Re-Assaulting Victims (This Law Has Been Replicated in Over Twenty-Five States)
  • Co-Presented a Training Module on Universities’ Title IX Obligations to Sexual Violence Survivors at a U.S. Department of Justice: Office on Violence Against Women (“OVW”) National Conference
• Bachelor of Arts in Politics, Brandeis University, magna cum laude
  • 2001 Truman Scholar Recipient for Public Service Accomplishments
  • 2000 Massachusetts National Organization for Women’s (“NOW”) Woman of Courage Award Recipient
  • Member of the Phi Beta Kappa (ΦΒΚ) Honor Society

Certification:

• The Danger Assessment (“DA”): Intimate Partner Violence (“IPV”) Lethality Risk Assessment

Featured Work:

• Featured Panelist, 2018 Truman Scholars National Conference, Washington D.C.

Media Features:

• • WJHL

• • Diverse Education Magazine

Publications and Cited Work:

• Harvard Journal of Law & Gender: Title IX Comments: Spotlight on Students in Higher Education

Bar Admissions:

• State of Massachusetts
• State of New York