Magee was honored for her outstanding lifetime contributions towards fostering systemic change by destigmatizing mental health, strengthening resiliency and creating a synergic approach to work and life in the legal profession. The award was presented on January 19 at the virtual IWIL 2022 conference, Redesigning the Legal Profession for a Better Future.
Magee is an internationally-recognized thought and practice leader focused on mindfulness-based stress reduction interventions for lawyers, law students, and for minimizing social-identity-based bias. A professor of law for 20 years, Magee lectures on personal injury and insurance recovery civil cases; race and inequality; and she co-created a course on mindfulness and lawyering. A prolific author, Magee has penned numerous articles and book chapters on mindfulness in legal education, and how to use mindfulness when thinking about race. Her work has appeared in publications such as the Virginia Law Review, Alabama Law Review, San Francisco Chronicle and Mindful Magazine. She also authored The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness, published in September 2019.
“On behalf of the board, we extend our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for Professor Magee’s decades-long contributions to the well-being in law movement dedicated to realizing a legal profession that honors the humanity and well-being of all its members,” said Bree Buchanan, president of the IWIL. “Likewise, we are deeply grateful to Reed Smith for being the first global firm to step forward and support IWIL’s work.”
“We join IWIL in celebrating Professor Magee’s career-long dedication in pursuit of mindfulness in both the classroom and in the legal profession.” said Casey Ryan, Reed Smith’s Global Head of Legal Personnel.
Launched by the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being in April 2021, the IWIL advocates for systemic change in the legal profession to address a growing concern about mental health, substance use and addiction, and stress affecting lawyers. Its advocacy is derived from the belief that well-being is a core component of personal and professional success. Reed Smith is one of IWIL’s founding members.