Legal career (1988–1996)

From 1988 until 1992, Magill worked as a senior legislative assistant for United States Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota.^[2] Following law school, Magill worked as a law clerk for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1995 until 1996, and then worked as a clerk for United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg from 1996 until 1997.^[3] She became member of the American Law Institute.^[4]

Early academic career (1997–2012)

In 1997, Magill joined the faculty of the University of Virginia School of Law, where she worked for 15 years.^[5] A scholar of administrative and constitutional law, she was the Joseph Weintraub–Bank of America Distinguished Professor of Law, the Elizabeth D. and Richard A. Merrill Professor,^[5] and from 2009 to 2012, the school’s vice dean.^[2][6]

Senior administrative positions (2012–2022)

From 2012 to 2019, Magill was dean of the law school at Stanford University, where she was also Richard E. Lang Professor of Law.^[7] In 2016, she was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.^[8]

In 2019 she returned to the University of Virginia, where she served as provost from 2019 to 2022.^[6]

University of Pennsylvania (2022–2023)

In July 2022, she became the ninth president of the University of Pennsylvania,^[7][6] joining the university faculty as a Trustees University Professor and Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.^[5]

In September 2023, Jewish groups and students expressed concerns about an upcoming on-campus literature festival, Palestine Writes, due to scheduled speakers' past statements regarding Israel and Zionism.^[9] Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, urged Magill to cancel the event.^[10] Marc Rowan, CEO of Apollo Global Management and chair of UJA-Federation of New York, a Jewish philanthropy, circulated an open letter about the event that garnered over 4,000 signatures. Members of the Penn faculty expressed concern that donors had such a "platform to criticize an event."^[10] Magill responded to the controversy, stating:

"We unequivocally -- and emphatically -- condemn antisemitism as antithetical to our institutional values. As a university, we also fiercely support the free exchange of ideas as central to our educational mission. This includes the expression of views that are controversial and even those that are incompatible with our institutional values."^[11]