Education

• J.D. The University of Montana, Graduation with Honors
• B.A. Sociology, The University of Montana, Graduation with Honors

Biography

Gail Hammer teaches primarily in the Legal Clinic, where she directs a General Public Interest Practice Clinic for University Legal Assistance. She has taught in the classroom and the clinic at the University of Montana, Washington University in St. Louis, and Gonzaga. Her classroom teaching focuses on pretrial and trial practice and on children’s law.

Prof. Hammer is a member of the Washington and Montana state bars. Before and while teaching, she represented indigent people in civil cases in Idaho, Washington, Missouri, and Montana, and served as a Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Montana. She has significant volunteer experience with community agencies dedicated to ending interpersonal violence.

Prof. Hammer served as a consultant on teaching methods in Croatia, Serbia, and Brazil; in Croatia for the ABA CEELI program; in Serbia for the National Center for State Courts Serbia Rule of Law project; and in Brazil for South American law professors, and for law professors and graduate students at São Paulo Law School of Fundação Getulio Vargas (Direito GV). She served 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.

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)
• Former Editor of The Law Teacher, newsletter of The Institute for Law School Teaching

Presentations

• Presented International Child Custody Disputes: Some Legal and Practical Considerations, Mission Possible CLE, Gonzaga Law School, Spokane, Wash., November, 2010
• Panel, “Responding to Ethical Issues,” Family Law CLE, Gonzaga Law School, Spokane, Wash., November 13, 2009
• Degrees of Separation: How Injustice Can Result From Knowing Too Much, Knowing a Little, and Knowing Nothing At All (with illustrations from child abuse, domestic violence, and transgender parents cases), Gonzaga-in-Florence, June 2009
• Spoke on poverty and law at conference called The Faces of Poverty: Global and Local Images, Gonzaga University, April 2009
• Presented on Why Methodology Matters at conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil for law teachers from all over South America, April 2008
• 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-’93
• Domestic Violence: An Important Problem in Legal Triage, Spokane County Bar Association, November 1992
• Degrees of Separation: How Injustice Can Result From Knowing Too Much, Knowing a Little, Or Knowing Nothing At All, Florence

Professional Organizations

• Washington State Practice of Law Board, 2009-present
• American Association of Law Schools, Committee on Clinical Legal Education, 2004-’07
• Consultant with the National Center for State Courts on the Serbia Rule of Law Project, 2005-’07
• Washington State Bar Association, Amicus Brief Committee, 2004-’05
• Washington State Bar Association, Professionalism Committee, 2002-’05
• 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
• State Bar of Montana, Women’s Law Section, Chair, 1997-2000
• Montana Domestic Relations Study Commission, 1996

Community Service

• 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-’98
• Women’s Place (provided 24-hour crisis counseling, legal advocacy, and medical advocacy, focused on violence issues), Member 1986-’88 and 1993-’95; Training Committee, 1994-’95, President of Board of Directors, 1994-’95
• Richland County Emergency Shelter Coalition (provides shelter for homeless people), Board of Directors, 1993
• Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Board of Directors, 1991-’93
• Spokane Human Rights Commission, Chair, 1992

Teaching Areas

• Clinic
• Litigation Skills
• Children & The Law
• Family Law Practice

CV

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)