Full Name
Rebecca Ann Simon
Job Title
Lecturer & Co-Director, USC Gould School of Law Peak Performance Program
Company
University of California, Irvine School of Law
Speaker Bio
Rebecca Ann Simon is a member of the California Bar and currently a Lecturer and USC Gould School of Law and UCI Law School. She co-created a nationally acclaimed Mindfulness, Stress Management, and Peak Performance Program, currently running at USC Gould School of Law. She also teaches her co-created “Self Mastery” Course at UCI Law School with Professor Jarrett Green. She was an Associate Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles from 2014 to 2018. She taught academic skills to law students starting in 2011 and also doctrinal course
material. She started the “Mindfulness Mondays” program at Southwestern Law in 2014. In 2018, she began full-time legal industry consultancy work related to wellness. Professor Simon was the Keynote Speaker at “Changing Our Minds: Wellness Developments In The Legal Industry” Symposium held at UCI Law School in March 2019. She will be a featured speaker at the annual NALP Conference in San Diego in April 2019 and also a presenter at the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning at their 2019 Summer Conference in June. She is also honored to be a panelist at ALM’s
“SuperConference” in Chicago in May 2019.
Professor Simon holds a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, a J.D. from Southwestern Law School, and a Certificate in Public Policy from the Pardee RAND Graduate School. From January 2016 to May 2018 Professor Simon was a founding Board member and the first Executive Director of the Mindfulness In Law Society (MILS). MILS is a national non-profit organization dedicated to promoting mindfulness and other contemplative practices in all sectors of the legal community to improve wellbeing. From 2015-2018 Professor Simon was the Co-Chair of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Balance Section’s Mindfulness Affinity Group (MAG), bringing together law faculty interested in contemplative practices from all over the country. Professor Simon’s experience with executive coaching, mindfulness, contemplative practices, and Social-Emotional-Learning Education includes: a decade as a practitioner; meditation training retreats at a Silent Stay Center in Northern California (2015-2019); completion of the Executive Mind series courses (I, II, and III) at the Drucker School of Management (2012-2013); serving as a national leader of the Mindfulness Affinity Group for law faculty (2014-2018); a week-long training event with a scholarship at UC-Berkeley (July, 2016), achieving a Certificate from the Greater Good Science Center’s Summer Institute for Educators (2016); teaching “Mindfulness Mondays” at Southwestern Law School (2014-2018), coaching hundreds of students one-on-one for five years, and as a co-founder and co-director of the Mindfulness, Stress Management and Peak Performance Program (2016-to date). Her Peak Performance Program was commended by the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being Report (page 39).
Before teaching and consulting, Professor Simon held leadership positions in various sectors: as Program Director for a nonprofit foundation in Los Angeles; as a Campaign Manager for a Los Angeles City Council candidate; and as a Strategist for a well-known media personality and legal analyst. She has worked in an issue organization in Washington D.C., at the State Capitol in Sacramento, and for the Berkeley City Council, and served as the Chairwoman of the Human Welfare and Community Action Commission of the Berkeley City Council. For thirteen years Professor Simon served on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Westside chapter of the National Women's Political Caucus. Following politics and issue-advocacy – related to international policy matters – are her two big passions outside of her teaching and yoga practice. Professor Simon has traveled to Washington DC every year for the last eighteen years in a row to attend the same long-running national policy conference. She is a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy, a non-partisan international affairs organization focusing on West Coast policy issues.
Professor Simon also co-leads executive wellness and transformation retreats yearly to Riskikesh, India – the birthplace of yoga and meditation.
material. She started the “Mindfulness Mondays” program at Southwestern Law in 2014. In 2018, she began full-time legal industry consultancy work related to wellness. Professor Simon was the Keynote Speaker at “Changing Our Minds: Wellness Developments In The Legal Industry” Symposium held at UCI Law School in March 2019. She will be a featured speaker at the annual NALP Conference in San Diego in April 2019 and also a presenter at the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning at their 2019 Summer Conference in June. She is also honored to be a panelist at ALM’s
“SuperConference” in Chicago in May 2019.
Professor Simon holds a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, a J.D. from Southwestern Law School, and a Certificate in Public Policy from the Pardee RAND Graduate School. From January 2016 to May 2018 Professor Simon was a founding Board member and the first Executive Director of the Mindfulness In Law Society (MILS). MILS is a national non-profit organization dedicated to promoting mindfulness and other contemplative practices in all sectors of the legal community to improve wellbeing. From 2015-2018 Professor Simon was the Co-Chair of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Balance Section’s Mindfulness Affinity Group (MAG), bringing together law faculty interested in contemplative practices from all over the country. Professor Simon’s experience with executive coaching, mindfulness, contemplative practices, and Social-Emotional-Learning Education includes: a decade as a practitioner; meditation training retreats at a Silent Stay Center in Northern California (2015-2019); completion of the Executive Mind series courses (I, II, and III) at the Drucker School of Management (2012-2013); serving as a national leader of the Mindfulness Affinity Group for law faculty (2014-2018); a week-long training event with a scholarship at UC-Berkeley (July, 2016), achieving a Certificate from the Greater Good Science Center’s Summer Institute for Educators (2016); teaching “Mindfulness Mondays” at Southwestern Law School (2014-2018), coaching hundreds of students one-on-one for five years, and as a co-founder and co-director of the Mindfulness, Stress Management and Peak Performance Program (2016-to date). Her Peak Performance Program was commended by the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being Report (page 39).
Before teaching and consulting, Professor Simon held leadership positions in various sectors: as Program Director for a nonprofit foundation in Los Angeles; as a Campaign Manager for a Los Angeles City Council candidate; and as a Strategist for a well-known media personality and legal analyst. She has worked in an issue organization in Washington D.C., at the State Capitol in Sacramento, and for the Berkeley City Council, and served as the Chairwoman of the Human Welfare and Community Action Commission of the Berkeley City Council. For thirteen years Professor Simon served on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Westside chapter of the National Women's Political Caucus. Following politics and issue-advocacy – related to international policy matters – are her two big passions outside of her teaching and yoga practice. Professor Simon has traveled to Washington DC every year for the last eighteen years in a row to attend the same long-running national policy conference. She is a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy, a non-partisan international affairs organization focusing on West Coast policy issues.
Professor Simon also co-leads executive wellness and transformation retreats yearly to Riskikesh, India – the birthplace of yoga and meditation.
