By Gwyneth K. Shaw
Joining the UC Berkeley Law faculty is a homecoming for Alina Ball, the school’s latest hire. An East Bay native, she’ll lead the Social Enterprise Clinic in the growing Clinical Program.
“This is an opportunity to build on the work that I’ve been doing over the last decade,” says Ball, who ran a similar clinic at UC Law San Francisco. “Now, I can really take that to a deeper level by being at a law school that not only financially supports the clinic work but also provides opportunity for collaboration across the university.”
UC Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky says he’s delighted by Ball’s arrival.
“Alina is a very experienced and nationally renowned clinical professor who will strengthen our Clinical Program by creating an economic development clinic focused on helping small businesses,” he says. “She’s a terrific hire and I very much look forward to being her colleague.”
Experience and expertise
Ball’s career as a clinical professor grew out of her passion for two distinct areas: transactional law and racial justice. She went to UCLA Law knowing she wanted to do transactional work in economically marginalized communities.
“Lawyers have been doing this type of work for a really long time, but there weren’t ready made pathways to how to do this — there wasn’t a how-to guide of how to be a transactional social justice lawyer,” she says.
Ball worked at Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., focusing on representing private and public companies in debt, equity, and M&A transactions. She then got a teaching fellowship at Georgetown Law, where she also earned an LL.M.
“I realized this is the sweet spot of the technical skills that I wanted to use and the ability to work within the communities where I’m most inspired,” Ball says. “My two guiding principles have always been a desire to use the technical skills that allow me to do creative problem solving within communities that I deeply care about and authenticity — really making sure that I’m able to live my values in the work that I’m doing.”
Students in the Social Enterprise Clinic will work as outside counsel for local businesses with a social or environmental mission, assisting with corporate governance, regulatory compliance, formation issues, and contract drafting.
Ever-expanding horizons
The Social Enterprise Clinic is one of three new clinics on the horizon, including the first Family Defense Clinic on the West Coast, and Clinical Program Director Laura Riley says Ball is an excellent addition.
“We are thrilled that Alina Ball is joining the Clinical Program to found and lead the Social Enterprise Clinic,” she says. “The clinic’s focus on racial and economic justice and commitment to providing legal representation to social enterprises will benefit both communities and students interested in thinking critically about the relationships among law, business, and racial equity.”
Ball says she’s excited to be part of the process of continuing to enhance the program.
“Berkeley is consistently listed as one of the strongest clinical programs in the country, and it was exciting to me both that the leadership of the law school was investing in it and thinking strategically about how to grow the program and stay cutting edge,” she says.
An additional draw, Ball says, is the wide range of faculty doing work in areas that converge with her interests, including the law school’s growing consumer law group.
“Berkeley has a demonstrated commitment to hiring cutting-edge voices, including scholars of color and scholars who center economic justice, and that was exciting to me,” Ball says. “I look forward to being part of this rich intellectual community.”