::Hammer, Gail

Biographical Information

Gail Hammer has taught in the classroom and the clinic at the University of Montana, Washington University in St. Louis, and currently at Gonzaga University, as director of the Family Law/Domestic Violence Project for University Legal Assistance. She also serves as co-director of the Institute for Law School Teaching. Before teaching, she represented indigent people in civil cases in Idaho, Washington, Missouri, and Montana. She has significant volunteer experience with community agencies dedicated to ending interpersonal violence. She has served as a consultant on teaching methods for the National Center for State Courts in its Serbia Rule of Law project. She serves as legal consultant for Same Page, a project working to improve parenting evaluations and treatment and to raise the standard for expert testimony on parenting issues. Professor Hammer is a member of the Washington, Idaho, and Montana state bars.

Publications

• A Conversation Between Friends: Adventures in Collaborative Planning and Teaching Ethical Issues in Representation of Children,  75 University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review 1025 (2007) (with James Celto-Vache).
• Published the Fall 2006 edition of The Law Teacher - publication for Gonzaga Law School Institute for Law School Teaching.
• Revisions to Washington State Gender and Justice Commission's Domestic Violence Manual for Judges 2001.
• Assistive Technology Appeals Manual, 1993 (with Mary Gallagher).
• Parental Status Characteristics and Self-Placement of Young Adults, Youth and Society 15:133-156 (1983), (with William H. McBroom, with the assistance of Rodney L. Brod and Gladys Hardin).
• Editor of The Law Teacher, newsletter of The Institute for Law School Teaching.

Presentations

• Presented on clinical law and the recent publication Best Practices for Legal Education, at the annual Northwest Clinical Law Conference, along with Roy Stuckey of the University of South Carolina School of Law, October 13, 2007
• Interviewed for radio station KYRS program, "Local Heroes," about her work in the University Legal Clinic and the community to eradicate interpersonal violence.  October 2006. 
• Co-presented three, full-day workshops and a two-day advanced workshop for Serbian law professors on improving teaching techniques for the National Center for State Courts and United States Agency on International Development December 2004, May 2005, and November 2005.
• Working with Guardians ad Litem for the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence September 2005.
• Workshop on teaching methods for the Institute for Law School Teaching Summer Conference July 2004.
• Co-presented half-day workshop on teaching methods for The Institute for Law School Teaching Conference for Adjunct Law Teachers June 2003.
• Optional evening workshop on teaching methods for full-time law professors for The Institute for Law School Teaching's Reflecting on Our Teaching conference, July 2003.
• Co-presented three-day workshop on teaching methods for Eastern European law professors for the American Bar Association's Central and Eastern Europe Law Initiative, December 2003.
• Workshops at Northwest Clinicians' Conference, October 2003. Presented keynote speech at YWCA Alternatives to Domestic Violence Program luncheon, introducing Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence Fatality Review findings, 2003.
• Integrating Domestic Violence Issues Into Clinical Programs for ABA Commission on Domestic Violence, March 2001.
• Working with Difficult Students, Northwest Clinical Law Conference, October 2000.
• Interstate and International Custody Issues, Montana Legal Services Association, October 1999.
• New Statutory Requirements for Medical Support Orders, State Bar of Montana, October 1997.
• Various workshops on family law issues for Northwest Women's Law Center 1990 - 1993.
• Domestic Violence: An Important Problem in Legal Triage, Spokane County Bar Association, November 1992.
• Service to the Profession:
• • American Association of Law Schools, Committee on Clinical Legal Education 2004 – present.
  • Washington State Bar Association Amicus Brief Committee 2004 - 2005.
  • Washington State Bar Association Professionalism Committee member 2002 – 2005.
  • Best Practices for Legal Education, Steering Committee 2003 – present.
  • Washington State Bar Association Access to Justice Board, Family Law Subcommittee 2002 – present.
  • Administrative Office of the Courts, Pattern Forms Committee, Family Law Subcommittee 2002 - present.
  • Women's Law Section of the State Bar of Montana, Chair 1997 - 2000.
  • Domestic Relations Study Commission (reviewed existing statutes and proposed legislation to revamp Montana family law), 1996.
• Service to the Community:
• • Children's Ark (provides therapeutic parenting education), Board of Directors 2004 – present.
  • Dissolution Advice Clinic (provides education and individual advice for indigent people representing themselves in family law cases) co-founder 2001, volunteer attorney 2001 - present.
  • Spokane County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Program Divorce Advice Clinic Attorney of the Year Award 2002.
  • Spokane County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Program Special Recognition Award 2001.
  • Western Montana Bar Association, Public Interest Award recipient 1996.
  • Family Law Advice Clinic (provides education and individual advice for indigent people representing themselves), Co-founder, Advisory Committee 1993 - 2000.
  • Watson Children's Shelter (provides shelter for abused children), Board of Directors 1999 - 2000.
  • Missoula Family Violence Council (coordinates community effort to reduce family violence, conducts public education, proposes and lobbies for legislative reform), Legislative Committee 1993 - 2000.
  • Alternatives to Violence Project (conducts experiential workshops in communities and prisons, exploring nonviolent conflict resolution strategies), Facilitator 1994, Lead Facilitator 1995 - 1998.
  • Women's Place (provided 24-hour crisis counseling, legal advocacy, and medical advocacy, focused on violence issues), Member 1986 - 1988 and 1993 - 1995, Training Committee 1994 - 1995, President of Board of Directors 1994 - 1995.
  • Richland County Emergency Shelter Coalition (provides shelter for homeless people), Board of Directors 1993.
  • WWashington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Board of Directors 1991 - 1993.
  • Spokane Human Rights Commission, Chair 1992.
    

Professional Organizations

• Consultant with the National Center for State Courts on the Serbia Rule of Law Project.  Professor Hammer's efforts have been focused on reforming legal education and on the establishment of a center for teaching excellence.

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