June 13, 2023
Alicia M. Penn Awarded 2023 Young Lawyer of the Year
Alicia M. Penn has been awarded the 2023 R. Edwin Burnette Jr. Young Lawyer of the Year Award by the Virginia State Bar’s Young Lawyers Conference (YLC). The award recognizes a young lawyer who demonstrates dedicated service to the YLC, the legal profession, and the community.
At the VSB and within her firm, Penn has served in volunteer roles that enhance the profession and expand access to justice. Penn previously served as co-chair for the Bench-Bar Conference, which is a multi-hour CLE event focused on fostering connections between the judiciary and the young lawyers of the bar. She currently serves as the co-chair for the Bench-Bar Dinner, which is an event to honor newly confirmed and elevated women and minority judges in the state and federal courts across the Commonwealth. At her firm, Penn serves as a member of the Pro Bono Committee. Outside of her work at her firm and her involvement with the YLC, Penn also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, teaching a course called "Writing for Clerks" to share her knowledge as an English major, a UVA Law Legal Writing Fellow, and a former clerk with law students interested in clerking.
Penn, a commercial litigator with McGuireWoods’s Richmond office, litigates business disputes (both big and small) in federal and state court. She maintains a balanced practice of both trial work and appeals. Prior to joining McGuireWoods, Penn clerked for the Honorable now-Chief Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn of the Supreme Court of Virginia.
Penn was nominated by Sarah K. Stahling of the Virginia Office of the Attorney General who commended Penn’s significant role mentoring the students of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Minority Pre-Law Club. Stahling also noted Penn’s significant work as co-chair of the 2021 Bench-Bar Conference and her efforts with the 2022 Bench-Bar Dinner, both of which won national awards for the YLC. Stahling wrote, “Alicia has proven that she is always brainstorming ways to elevate the event that celebrates women and minority judges.”
Penn was nominated by Sarah K. Stahling of the Virginia Office of the Attorney General who commended Penn’s significant role mentoring the students of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Minority Pre-Law Club. Stahling also noted Penn’s significant work as co-chair of the 2021 Bench-Bar Conference and her efforts with the 2022 Bench-Bar Dinner, both of which won national awards for the YLC. Stahling wrote, “Alicia has proven that she is always brainstorming ways to elevate the event that celebrates women and minority judges.”
Evan X. Tucker, an attorney at McGuireWoods, applauded Penn’s commitment to the firm’s Pro Bono Committee and noted her ongoing efforts to recruit diverse attorneys to the firm from the University of Virginia, where Penn attended law school, as well as University of Richmond. Tucker noted that Penn has worked on pro bono matters ranging from housing issues to successfully navigating a client through the guardian ad litem process to obtain guardianship over their ill parent. He noted that she has worked on pro bono appeals as well. Her pro bono appeals to date have involved advocating on behalf of clients challenging healthcare discrimination against transgender people and fighting for the safety of a neighborhood by challenging the renewal of a liquor license. Said Tucker, “Alicia is a true champion of diversity, equity, and inclusion, it’s part of her practice and part of her life.”
McGuireWoods colleague Maricris Prendingue, who also clerked alongside Penn, wrote of Penn’s devotion to mentoring minority students and recruiting diverse attorneys to the firm. Prendingue commended Penn for her coordination of the Clerkship Panel for the Black Law Students Association at the University of Richmond School of Law and her work on the 2023 YLC Diversity Charity Golf Tournament. Concluded Prendingue, “Alicia is an eager proponent of access to justice and has allocated over 100 hours to pro bono service last year alone.”
Penn’s supervising partner at McGuireWoods, Ryan D. Frei, commented: “From her first day at the firm, Alicia has been a dynamic attorney and a uniquely good citizen of the community. She carries herself with a level of maturity and instincts to lead and mentor well beyond her years. Her passion for pro bono work and fostering diversity in the legal profession is unmatched. I could not be prouder of her for this achievement.”
Though the Young Lawyer of the Year Award is traditionally presented at the VSB Annual Meeting in Virginia Beach, due to a scheduling conflict Penn will receive the award at the YLC Leadership Institute in Richmond.