Lisa Beattie Frelinghuysen

Senior Banyan Affiliate

Lisa Beattie Frelinghuysen spent seven years at David Yurman Enterprises, a family-owned, privately held company, as Chief of Strategy and Chief Legal Officer, overseeing the company’s corporate, litigation, intellectual property, real estate, contracts, compliance, and employment practice, and cyber security plans. She also worked with the owners on the CEO search, Board of Directors development, ownership and governance structure, and succession plans. Lisa explains, “I enjoyed helping the family build the right structure for both their current business and future business needs, a structure that would allow the company to thrive for generations.” She works with Banyan as an independent consultant supporting our clients who can benefit from her expertise.

Previously, Lisa practiced law with Williams & Connolly, representing media clients, including Disney, NBC, and Newsweek. She was a law clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and worked on the U.S. Supreme Court’s critical gender equality case, involving Virginia Military Institute. Her time on the Supreme Court, assessing difficult cases, increased her appreciation and respect for both sides of an issue and the implications of the Court’s decision. “Working with Justice Ginsburg taught me to be a critical thinker and express considered opinions thoughtfully.” Lisa notes, “she was an inspiration – she dedicated herself to justice and equality, and continued to have a profound impact well into her 80s.” Before that time, Lisa worked as a law clerk to Chief Judge Harry Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. She also served as President and Editor-in-Chief of the Stanford Law Review.

Lisa lives in NYC with her husband and four children and serves on various privately-held company boards and non-profit boards in the gender equality space. She speaks frequently on the subject of women’s equality and reproductive justice. In college, Lisa played on the Stanford Women’s Lacrosse Team, but now enjoys tennis and yoga and climbing mountains; she’s summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, Mt. Kenya, and the Matterhorn.