Remembering Professor Stephanie Phillips
The School of Law is mourning the loss of Professor Emerita Stephanie Phillips, who over three decades of teaching in Buffalo pursued intellectual interests including African-American legal history, Critical Race Theory and—a personal passion that she grew into a wildly popular course on self-care in legal practice—mindfulness and meditation.
Phillips, who retired from UB Law in 2022, died Aug. 15 at her home in suburban Rochester, N.Y. She was 72.
“Stephanie was a pioneer in Critical Race Theory and co-organized the first Critical Race Theory workshop, held in 1989 in Madison, Wis.,” Dean S. Todd Brown wrote in announcing her passing. “More recently, she collaborated with Professor Athena Mutua to teach a series of Critical Race Theory seminars focused on the social construction of race and the intersections between race, gender and sexuality. … She incorporated mindfulness meditation into her coursework, studied the efficacy of mindfulness techniques for improved cognitive function, and led meditation groups at the law school as a service to her students and colleagues.”
A Buffalo resident from childhood, Phillips graduated from Buffalo Seminary before attending Antioch College in Ohio. She returned to Buffalo to earn a bachelor’s in business administration from UB, then earned the J.D. from Harvard.
Before joining UB Law in 1989, she clerked in the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit; taught law at the University of Miami; and practiced securities law for five years with a Miami firm.
Generations of UB Law students, as they prepared for both the intellectual rigors of law practice and the toll it can take on lawyers’ physical and emotional health, were inspired to disciplines of self-care in Phillips’ Mindfulness and Professional Identity courses. She deepened her thinking about the benefits of mindful practice through a sabbatical at Buffalo’s Himalayan Institute, and through certification by the Mindfulness in Law Teacher Training Program in Berkeley, Calif. She also co-founded the Mindfulness Alliance of Western New York.
Survivors include her wife of three years, Barbara Turner, and two stepchildren, as well as a sister, Rev. Adrienne Phillips.
Colleagues, friends and former students shared their thoughts about her singular presence on the UB Law faculty.
Receiving the 2011 Students of Color Jacob D. Hyman Professor of the Year Award.
Professor Luis Chiesa, currently vice dean for diversity, equity and belonging, inherited the mantle of mindfulness training after auditing Phillips’ course. With a deep interest in meditation, he continues to teach Contemplative Practice, Meditation and Law. “She was able to incorporate in her class a component of social justice, becoming aware of injustice and the law’s role in perpetrating injustice,” Chiesa says. “The most bare-bones definition of mindfulness is non-judgmental awareness, and she brought that perspective to law. If we look at the law mindfully, we can become aware of what it is and what it’s doing, its impact, and become aware of that non-judgmentally. And when you really internalize mindfulness, you’re better able to respond rather than react—to create that space between stimulus and response. … She had this calm demeanor, this calming presence, and she brought that into the classroom. That’s something that can’t be taught, but it does teach.”
Professor Danielle Pelfrey Duryea, a former UB Law clinical professor now at Boston University School of Law, worked with Phillips as part of the Mindfulness Alliance and co-organized with her a major conference on mindfulness and health. “Stephanie was absolutely essential to making the alliance happen,” Duryea says. “She really convened people around the idea of an organization that would be focused on social change where the foundation was meditation and mindfulness. Her work in Critical Race Theory and Black feminist studies was all consistent with her commitment to mindfulness as a practice that could lead to more just outcomes, and could lead to real change that would value the life contributions and essential humanness of every person. … She was absolutely one of the gentlest, kindest human beings you could ever hope to know. Anyone who met her would say that they felt seen by her.”
Buffalo social worker Elaine Hammond, who teaches as an adjunct in UB’s School of Social work, co-taught Mindfulness and Professional Identity with Phillips for a decade. “That course was an absolute gift to me,” Hammond says. “We took a very careful look at mindfulness and theories of mindfulness, and how they affected the health and well-being of lawyers, who are known to not necessarily have the greatest health and well-being in the world. Stephanie was very funny. We had many deep conversations about many things; we talked about all kinds of stuff. … We tried to have a very open and accepting classroom. She was responsible for giving me the opportunity to build supportive relationships with all those years of law students, and I will be forever grateful.”
James Harrington ’19, now an assistant Erie County district attorney, took Phillips’ class in Conflict of Laws as a 3L. “The way she teaches is just universal,” Harrington says. “She was an amazing professor, very patient with everyone. Conflict of Laws can be very tricky to learn—a lot of rules come into play, and you have to go through a checklist to decide who trumps who. I’ll never forget all the boxes she drew to make sense of it; everything was a box. I had an amazing experience.”
Professor Athena Mutua credits Phillips with awakening her scholarly interest in Critical Race Theory. “She basically took me by the hand,” Mutua says. “We would stay up all night and drink and talk at all hours about ideas, concepts, people, personalities. It was great to have somebody to think with. Stephanie read a lot of my work, and she would always comment. There will be days when I’m reading something and I’ll say, I wonder what Stephanie would think.”
Lisa M. Patterson, the law school’s director of externships and access to justice initiatives, counted Phillips as a friend and presented on strengths assessment in her classes. “Stephanie Phillips was a luminous force, uniquely synthesizing legal and social insights with transformative wisdom,” Patterson says. “A trailblazer in both Critical Race Theory and mindfulness, she defied the status quo with a blend of challenge and compassion, standing as a beacon for justice and reflection. Notwithstanding her remarkable accomplishments as a scholar and activist, Stephanie was a consummate teacher. She made space for others to grow, always extending her hand to uplift those around her. Indeed, celebration of others was part of her core nature, and it was deeply affirming for those of us lucky enough to be touched by it.”