Alice W. Ballard, celebrated public interest law attorney, has died at 77
She founded her own firm in Center City and argued consequential cases about employee rights, civil rights, and women’s rights for more than 50 years.
Alice W. Ballard, 77, of Philadelphia, celebrated public interest law attorney, pioneering employment, civil, and women’s rights advocate, talented cellist, choral singer, and volunteer, died Monday, Sept. 8, of complications from cancer at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Born in Philadelphia, Ms. Ballard lived most of her life in Chestnut Hill, Mount Airy, and East Falls. She earned her law degree at Harvard University in 1973 when female attorneys were rare, set up her own practice in Center City in 1998, and argued consequential public interest law cases about employee rights, civil rights, and women’s rights for more than 50 years.
She was an expert at executive contracts, wage theft, and workplace fairness, and one colleague called her “wiser than Yoda and kind as Mother Teresa.” Another lawyer said: “Whenever a colleague approached me with a thorny issue, I always asked: ‘What does Alice think?’”
Ms. Ballard represented workers in a class discrimination case against U.S. Steel in 1978, a female lawyer in a sex discrimination dispute in 1993, the umpires against Major League Baseball in 1999, and more than 2,000 workers in a retirement pension reduction case in 2005. In 2011, she represented KYW-TV news anchor Beverly Williams in a race, sex, and age discrimination case.
In 2015, she won a whistleblower case against the School District of Philadelphia. In 2017, she handled a congressional district gerrymandering case against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Outside the courtroom, “her legal victories were matched by her quiet acts of generosity,” officials at the National Employment Lawyers Association said in a tribute. “She guided new advocates, uplifted colleagues, and reminded us that justice is built person by person, case by case.”
On her website, she described her clients as “skilled, clerical, and hourly workers, retirees, CEOs, and professionals, of all ages and circumstances.” Her family said in a tribute: “She was a true representative of others giving them strength, encouragement, and joy.”
She lectured at dozens of legal symposiums, seminars, and conferences for the American and Pennsylvania Bar Associations, and other groups. She taught employment discrimination law at Villanova University and lectured about appellate advocacy at Penn.
She was recognized for years by Super Lawyers magazine, Philadelphia Magazine, and other publications. In 2020, she earned the NELA’s Distinguished Service Award.
Colleagues praised her “extraordinary intellect and bold thinking” and “fierce dedication and loyalty to her clients.” They called her a “trailblazer,” “icon,” and “one of a kind in her generation.”
Earlier, after Harvard, she worked briefly at a poverty law center in Maine and then longer at the Public Interest Law Center in Philadelphia. Perseverance and precedent, she said in 2020, are keys to social justice advancements.
“We need to not give up when we lose,” she said. “Stick with it. Work hard. And whatever you do, don’t forget the past.”
Ms. Ballard was born to a musical family, and she sang in Harvard’s university choir and later in Philadelphia with the Singing City Choir and the Choral Arts Society. She played cello as a girl and with the Chestnut Hill Orchestra and chamber music groups as a adult.
Wherever she lived, she volunteered to register voters and showed up early with her own tools at community cleanups. She created a blog on which she posted poems, passages from literature, works of art, and songs about work and working.
» READ MORE: Ms. Ballard on Harvey Weinstein and employment rights in 2017
“Alice was a true role model for young girls,” said longtime family friend Rob Charry. His daughter, Jenna, said: “Alice showed all of us …that it’s OK to be an individual with big dreams.”
Alice Walker Ballard was born May 15, 1948, in Philadelphia. Her family cofounded the law firm Ballard Spahr, and she told relatives the civil rights movement in the 1960s and ’70s inspired her to pursue a career in public interest law.
She graduated from the old Springside School in 1966 and earned a bachelor’s degree in astronomy and law degree at Harvard.
She ran into fellow Harvard graduate Josh Mitteldorf at her 10-year class reunion in 1980, and, the next day, he asked her to marry him. “To my delight,” he said, “she said ‘maybe.’”
They married, lived in Mount Airy, and adopted their daughters, Sarah and Madeline, from China when such procedures were uncommon and arduous. After 20 years, they divorced and remained friends, and she moved to East Falls.
Music was always Ms. Ballard’s main hobby. “Alice was a crackerjack choral singer,” her former husband said. “She could sight-read any music you put in front of her.”
She also enjoyed walking her dogs along the Wissahickon Creek and tending her several gardens. “I love to play in the mud,” she often exclaimed.
Her family said: “She offered unconditional support, counsel when asked, and love.”
In addition to her daughters and former husband, Ms. Ballard is survived by sisters Ernesta and Sophie, and other relatives. A brother died earlier.
A celebration of her life is to be held later.
Donations in her name may be made to the Orchestra Society of Philadelphia, c/o Peter Heinemann, Treasurer, 205 Greenwood Ave., Wyncote, Pa. 19095; and the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation, 2000 Hamilton St., Ste 201, Philadelphia, Pa. 19130.