ALEXANDRIA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--M. Margaret McKeown has been selected to receive the prestigious 2024 American Inns of Court Lewis F. Powell Jr. Award for Professionalism and Ethics, which recognizes attorneys, judges, government officials, journalists, or others who have rendered exemplary service in the areas of professionalism, ethics, civility, and excellence. McKeown, a circuit judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, will receive the award at the 2024 American Inns of Court Celebration of Excellence at the Supreme Court of the United States.
“Throughout her life, Judge McKeown has worked to advance equal rights for women,” writes Victoria Fuller, president of the San Diego Appellate American Inn of Court, who nominated McKeown on behalf of the Inn, which McKeown helped launch. “In one of her memorable speeches, she advises that the mantra should not be ‘lean in,’ which is internally focused, but instead should be ‘lean down and lift up.’”
Before joining the Ninth Circuit in 1998, McKeown was the first woman partner at Perkins Coie LLP in Seattle and Washington, DC. She also served as the first woman president of the Federal Bar Association in Seattle and cofounded Washington Women Lawyers. In response to the #MeToo movement, she led a working group for the Ninth Circuit that pioneered innovations, such as a revised employment dispute resolution policy and a first-ever director of workplace relations, that became models at the national level. She served as chair of the Codes of Conduct Committee (ethics) of the Judicial Conference of the United States and is a member of the national Judicial Conduct and Disability Committee.
A nationally recognized expert on judicial ethics, McKeown has also worked to advance the rule of law internationally. She serves on the board of the World Justice Project and was the chair of the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative. She has worked with judiciaries around the world on ethics, transitional justice, equal rights, human trafficking, and intellectual property. She is the chair of the Ninth Circuit Pacific Islands Committee, which provides judicial education to U.S. territories and former trust territories.
In 2022, McKeown received the American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Ninth Circuit.
A native of Wyoming, McKeown serves on the board of the Teton Science Schools. That work prompted her to write a book, Citizen Justice: The Environmental Legacy of Justice William O. Douglas—Public Advocate and Conservation Champion.
The American Inns of Court, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, inspires the legal community to advance the rule of law by achieving the highest level of professionalism through example, education, and mentoring. The organization’s membership includes nearly 30,000 federal, state, and local judges; lawyers; law professors; and law students in more than 360 chapters nationwide. More information is available at www.innsofcourt.org.
