Megan J. Ballard

Megan J. Ballard Associate Professor Director, Public Interest Law Program mballard@lawschool.gonzaga.edu (509) 313-3752 B.A., Lewis and Clark College, 1984 M.A., Ibero-American Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1987 J.D., University of Wisconsin Law School, cum laude, 1994 LL.M., University of Wisconsin Law School, 1999, Law and Globalization Fellow

Biographical Information

Prior to teaching, Professor Ballard served as a Law clerk for Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson, now Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. She also was an Associate with Perkins Coie, Seattle, and Special Counsel with Foley & Lardner, Madison, Wisconsin. Professor Ballard's practice included general litigation, litigation of trust, estate and community property matters, estate planning and charitable foundation work. Professor Ballard taught courses as an Adjunct at the University of Wisconsin Law School before becoming an Associate Professor at Washburn University School of Law, from 2000 to 2004. She joined the Gonzaga faculty in 2004.

Professor Ballard has been an active member of the AALS Property Law section, developing and running its listserv since 2001. She also served as a Book Editor for the ABA Real Property Books and Media Publication Committee from 2005 to 2009. Within the Gonzaga community, Professor Ballard has worked to strengthen the Twinning Agreement between the Oregon and Colombian Provinces, spending July 2009 at Javeriana University in Cali, Colombia, studying Spanish and Colombian culture.

Professor Ballard's pro bono work and community service has included membership on the board of directors of a nonprofit organization assisting homeless and low-income families in Topeka; political asylum representation in Seattle; work with judges through the Cambodian Court Training Project in Phnom Penh; low-income tenant representation in Spokane; distributing food at Spokane's Second Harvest food bank; and training shelter dogs at the SpokAnimal humane society.

Teaching Areas

• Property
• Trusts & Wills
• Comparative Law
• Animal Law
• Perspectives on the Law

Publications

• Post-Conflict Property Restitution: Flawed Legal and Theoretical Foundations, forthcoming 28 Berkeley J. of International L. (2010)
• Washington's Expanded Domestic Partnership Act, Real Prob. Prob. & Trust, Winter 2007-2008, at 7 (Washington Bar Association)
• The Shortsightedness of Blind Trust, Kansas Law Review, Volume 56 (Fall 2007)
• Legal Protections for Home Dwellers: Caulking the Cracks to Preserve Occupancy, 56 Syracuse L. Rev. 277 (2006)
• Profiting from Poverty: The Competition Between For-Profit and Nonprofit Developers for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, 55 Hastings L. J. 211 (2003)
• The Clash Between Local Courts and Global Economics: The Politics of Judicial Reform in Brazil, 17 Berkeley J. of International L. 230 (1999)

Presentations

• Creating and Using a Student Ratings Instrument, workshop presented at Salmon P. Chase College of law Northern Kentucky University, October 30, 2009
• Estate Planning for Clients with Pets, Macs & Tax CLE, sponsored by Gonzaga University School of Law, Priest Lake, ID, September 26, 2009
• Washington's Domestic Partnership Act, Spokane Estate Planning Council, January 13, 2009
• Washington's New Domestic Partnership Act: Estate Planning for Domestic Partners, Macs & Tax CLE, sponsored by Gonzaga University School of Law, Priest Lake, ID, September 27, 2008
• Estate Planning with Companion Animals, at the Doing Well By Doing Good In Animal Law Cases CLE, sponsored by Gonzaga University School of Law, Spokane, WA, September 26, 2008

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