Gavin Alexander is an experienced and passionate advocate and thought leader in the areas of mental health, well-being, and diversity, equity and inclusion in the legal profession and beyond. He is a Certified Corporate Wellness Specialist, and he currently serves as the Wellness Director of Jackson Lewis P.C., a law firm with over 950 attorneys and over 60 offices across the United States. Before joining the firm, Gavin served as the first-ever Fellow of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Standing Committee on Lawyer Well-Being. Gavin shared his own personal experiences with depression and near-suicide in Depression to Dedication: How Chief Justice Gants Saved My Life and Catalyzed Ongoing Advocacy for Mental Health in the Legal Profession, 62 B.C. L. Rev. 2759 (2021), and “Trailblazing Toward Better Mental Health & Well-Being in Law: Q&A with Gavin Alexander, Well-Being Advocate,” Thomson Reuters Practical Law (Apr. 26, 2022), and he regularly speaks at law firms, law schools, conferences, courts, bar associations, and other legal institutions.
Gavin has served as a Co-Chair of the Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association and as a board member of The LGBTQ+ Bar (formerly the National LGBT Bar Association). Presently, he serves as a member of the Mass. Supreme Judicial Court Standing Committee on Lawyer Well-Being, as a board member and the DEI Chair of Lawyers Depression Project, and as a board member of Leadership Brainery. He also serves on the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs’ DEI Committee, ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund Committee, Institute for Well-Being in Law DEI Committee, Boston Bar Association DEI Section Steering Committee, and the Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants Access to Justice Fund Advisory Committee.
Gavin was named one of the Best LGBT Attorneys Under 40 by the National LGBT Bar Association in 2017, selected as one of Mass. Lawyers Weekly’s 25 “Up & Coming Lawyers” for 2019, featured on the Mass. Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” list for 2018-2020, and inducted as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation in 2020. In 2021, he received the Mass. Association of Hispanic Attorneys’ Leadership Award, where he was described as “by far one of the most committed allies in the areas of inclusion, equity and social and racial justice,” and in 2022, he received the Kevin Larkin Memorial Award for Public Service from the Mass. LGBTQ Bar Association.
Gavin studied Theater and Mathematics at Wesleyan University, and he graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum laude in 2012. After law school, Gavin clerked for Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. From 2013-2020, Gavin was an associate in the corporate department of Ropes & Gray LLP’s Boston office.