2025 News UMass Law: Margaret Drew honored with Lifetime Achievement Award

Associate professor to be celebrated by Massachusetts Bar Association on June 5, 2025

Margaret Drew, associate professor of law and director of clinics and experiential learning at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's School of Law (UMass Law), has been named the recipient of the 2025 Access to Justice Lifetime Achievement Award by the Massachusetts Bar Association (MBA).

The award recognizes attorneys who have dedicated their careers to advancing access to justice in the Commonwealth. Drew will be honored at the MBA's Access to Justice Awards Celebration on Thursday, June 5, at the Sheraton Framingham Hotel & Conference Center. The event will feature a keynote address by Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justice and UMass Law Adjunct Professor, Serge Georges Jr.

"I am humbled that my colleagues chose to honor me with this award and grateful to Dean Panarella for nominating me," said Drew. "I've had wonderful mentors and colleagues who supported me in my career, and it has been a tremendous experience to support my clinic students as they develop into advocates for those who have experienced abuse."

"Professor Drew has inspired generations of law students to pursue justice in their communities throughout the Commonwealth. This recognition reflects not only her exceptional legal expertise but also her unwavering commitment to using the law as a tool for positive change."

Before joining UMass Law in 2014, Drew practiced law in Massachusetts for 25 years, focusing on family, probate, and residential real estate law. She has also held academic positions at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, the University of Alabama School of Law, and Northeastern University School of Law, where she directed domestic violence clinics.

Drew is a past chair of the American Bar Association's Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence and has received the commission's 20/20 Vision Award for her work in implementing the Violence Against Women Act and mobilizing attorneys to represent survivors of domestic violence.

"Professor Drew is a wonderfully deserving recipient of this award, which honors individuals whose dedication to legal advocacy has made a lasting difference in the lives of others," said UMass Law Dean Sam Panarella. "In her time at UMass Law, Professor Drew has inspired generations of law students to pursue justice in their communities throughout the Commonwealth. This recognition reflects not only her exceptional legal expertise but also her unwavering commitment to using the law as a tool for positive change."