AALS Honors Professor Heidi Brown for Outstanding Contributions to Well-Being in Legal Education

Director of Legal Writing and Professor Heidi K. Brown, who recently released The Flourishing Lawyer, her third book dedicated to well-being for attorneys, received the Award for Outstanding Contributions to Well-Being in Legal Education from the Association of American Law Schools (AALS).

The AALS Section on Balance and Well-Being in Legal Education presents the award each year to recognize an individual who models the Section ideals, develops innovative programming that integrates this work into curricular or co-curricular offerings, contributes to academic scholarship in the field, and regularly contributes to the Section, their law school, and the legal community by providing access to well-being programming or services. The award was presented to Brown Jan. 5 at the AALS annual meeting, which was held Jan 3-7 in San Diego, Calif. 

“Heidi is at the forefront of legal educators who promote wellness in legal education,” the AALS said in a newsletter announcing the award. “Her prolific scholarship informs and inspires both law students and lawyers to incorporate wellness into their professional development and lives.”

The association pointed to Brown earning a master’s degree in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2021 as an example of her thought leadership and willingness to keep growing and learning as an educator.

Her first textbook, The Mindful Legal Writer, “articulated a groundbreaking approach to teaching legal writing oriented around deep thinking, intentionality, and empathy,” the AALS wrote. Brown’s most recent trio of books—The Introverted Lawyer, Untangling Fear in Lawyering, and The Flourishing Lawyer—provide practical resources for law students, lawyers, and legal educators to champion individuality, reframe fear into fortitude, and nurture character strengths. In her books, Brown contends that lawyers best succeed by cultivating their authentic selves and approaching well-being holistically.

In directing the legal writing program at Brooklyn Law School, Brown has similarly endeavored to show students and faculty the importance of humanity in learning, advocating for a shift away from one-size-fits-all legal training, focusing more on each student’s individual strengths.

Read a Q&A with Brown that appeared in the Fall edition of Brooklyn Law Notes.