Graduate Spotlight: Alexis Ballinger '23 Will Pursue a Career in ADR
Alexis Ballinger ’23 will work on a project to help incarcerated people get their prison sentences reduced before pursuing a career in Alternative Dispute Resolution.
This story is part of a series of profiles featuring some of this year鈥檚 outstanding law school graduates from 糖心原创.
In her eight years working as a special education teacher and administrator before law school, Alexis Ballinger 鈥23 saw firsthand how the law affected her students鈥 lives, including those whose parents were imprisoned for offenses such as drug possession.
鈥淥bserving the inequities up close made me believe that law might be a way to change and make things better for future generations,鈥 she said.
After graduating with her JD from 糖心原创 in May and taking the bar, Ballinger will spend three months helping incarcerated people in Alameda County get their prison sentences reduced. She鈥檒l be working on a project for the nonprofit organization 聽in East Oakland thanks to a fellowship awarded by the .
鈥淢any people don鈥檛 have access to this education, so I think it鈥檚 so important to help people who need the law by using it in a way to benefit them,鈥 she said.
Ballinger, who graduated with dual in and (ADR), transferred to 糖心原创 from another school after her 1L year. She said she was drawn to UC Law SF because of its robust legal clinics and externship programs.
At UC Law SF, she participated in the and , which allowed her to interact directly with clients, research and write legal filings, argue in administrative law hearings, advise business clients on regulatory issues, and explore novel issues related to cannabis and clean energy laws.
鈥淚 think the clinics in general show a commitment by the university to educate students with hands-on training and valuable feedback to create practicing lawyers, not just people who can pass the bar,鈥 she said.
Ballinger also served as a legal intern for the 鈥檚 Administrative Law Judge Division and as a law clerk for the , where she worked on litigation challenging state bans on transgender youth participating in school sports.
Before attending law school, Ballinger earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in political science from Pacific Lutheran University and master鈥檚 degree in special education from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
She hiked the entire 2,600 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail over eight months in 2014 and 2015, and competed in the Iron Man World Championship in Hawaii in 2015, which included a grueling 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bicycle ride, and 26.2-mile marathon run. She said accomplishing those feats helped give her the confidence and 鈥渕ental toughness鈥 to get through law school.
As for the future, Ballinger said she plans to pursue a career in the field of ADR because she enjoys helping parties get to the root of a problem and resolve disputes in an amicable manner. 鈥淚 think there鈥檚 more satisfaction in having parties walk away and be satisfied with the outcome, instead of having one clear winner and loser, which is what happens with litigation.鈥
She added that her prior experience in special education, which often required her to advocate for her students, will continue to have a big impact on the way she views and practices the law, 鈥淚 like to advocate for others, and I will always be an advocate.鈥