HARRISBURG (Nov. 1, 2017) — Past Pennsylvania Bar Association President and Philadelphia attorney Michael H. Reed will be honored with the inaugural C. Dale McClain Quality of Life/Balance Award at Committee/Section Day in Harrisburg on Nov. 16.
C. Dale McClain is one of the founders of the PBA’s Quality of Life/Balance Committee and served as the 114th president of the PBA. McClain spent much of his career fulfilling the mission of the committee through educating attorneys on the importance of attaining a quality of life/balance in the practice of law.
Presented by the PBA Quality of Life/Balance Committee, the annual award recognizes the substantial contributions made by Pennsylvania attorneys in identifying issues relevant to balancing the professional and personal lives of their peers, as well as the progress made in assisting attorneys in maintaining and improving their overall quality of life.
Reed is special counsel and former partner at Pepper Hamilton LLP, where he practices bankruptcy and insolvency law as a member of the firm’s Corporate Restructuring and Bankruptcy Practice Group.
A founding member of the PBA Minority Bar Committee, Reed has been dedicated to improving the quality of practice and life/balance for all attorneys, especially those who are diverse, through his work with this committee, as well as its Minority Attorney Conference. Reed has strived to empower attorneys by coordinating activities and educational programming designed to assist them with their professional and personal well-beings.
Additionally, Reed has served as a mentor to countless attorneys, sharing his personal knowledge about the practice of law and balancing a successful career with one’s personal life. Nominator Wesley R. Payne IV felt that Reed’s contributions to the PBA, and the bar in general, have been invaluable. “A generation of diverse PBA attorneys has been mentored by Mr. Reed through his philosophy of bar membership as a vehicle to professional and personal success,” he said.
In addition to being the first president of color of the PBA, Reed has served in many other leadership roles within the association, including chair of the House of Delegates and a member of the Board of Governors.
Reed currently chairs the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Constitution and Bylaws and is the state delegate for Pennsylvania in the ABA House of Delegates. He previously served on the ABA Board of Governors and Presidential Advisory Council on Diversity in the Profession. Active in the Business Bankruptcy Committee of the ABA Section of Business Law for more than 25 years, Reed previously chaired its Subcommittee on Secured Creditors (co-chair), Subcommittee on Committees, Subcommittee on Avoiding Powers, Subcommittee on Mass Tort and Environmental Claims and Subcommittee on Labor and Employment Law. He also served on the Business Law Section’s Publications Board.
Reed is a former chairman of the Professional Guidance (Ethics) Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association and a member of the Executive Committee of its Young Lawyers’ Section. He is also the first vice president of the Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia. Reed is a past member of the Pennsylvania Judicial Inquiry and Review Board, as well as the Pennsylvania Interest on Lawyers Trust Account (IOLTA) Board.
An active member of his community, Reed was appointed to the Philadelphia Board of Ethics in 2011 and has served as its chair since December 2012. Reed also is vice chair of the Board of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and general counsel of the Temple University Alumni Association. He was a member of the Committee of Seventy and previously served on the boards of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, the Episcopal Hospital of Philadelphia and the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Reed graduated from Yale University School of Law and Temple University.
Founded in 1895, the Pennsylvania Bar Association strives to promote justice, professional excellence and respect for the law; improve public understanding of the legal system; facilitate access to legal services; and serve the 26,000 lawyers who are members of the association.