Abraham Rubert-Schewel

Abraham Rubert-Schewel joined Tin Fulton Walker & Owen in 2020, after moving from New York back to his home state of North Carolina. 

In New York, Abe co-founded a civil rights firm, Lord & Schewel PLLC, clerked for the Honorable Jack B. Weinstein in the Eastern District of New York and served as a public defender at the Legal Aid Society in Manhattan.

Abe’s civil rights practice includes cases involving wrongful conviction, excessive force, and systemic challenges to unconstitutional state, city and police conduct. Abe also represents clients in protest, voting, and North Carolina public records litigation. Some of Abe’s current and past civil rights cases include Douglas v. City of New York, a suit on behalf of two young Black men who were wrongfully held for a combined 5.5 years on Rikers Island before they were exonerated by GPS data and awarded two million dollars in a settlement; NAACP v. City of Charlotte, a suit brought after police trapped and tear gassed 350 people protesting the murder of George Floyd; Washington v. City of Raleigh, a suit brought on behalf of 14 clients falsely arrested and incarcerated on fabricated heroin trafficking charges; NAACP v. Gaston, a suit seeking to remove the Confederate Monument located in front of the Gaston County Courthouse, and; Natoo v. City of New York, in which Abe’s client was awarded a $650,000 jury verdict after being falsely arrested and held in jail for one night. 

Abe also represents clients in federal and state criminal matters. In 2018-2019, he represented three clients in federal criminal jury trials including a client found not guilty of racketeering murder and a client charged with providing material support to ISIS. Abe often represents clients charged with crimes related to political action or freedom of speech. 

Abe graduated magna cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law. Prior to law school, Abe was a teacher in Jackson, Mississippi, and received a Masters in Education from the University of Mississippi. Abe received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill. 

Abe lives in Durham with his wife Lauren Lee Pettiette Schewel and their dog Lucy.