Ball devotes career to ensuring representation

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In her more than 26 years of experience in the legal field, Colleen Ball has obtained the sort of foresight that lets her identify unspoken needs and deficiencies in a system that is often over-complicated.

Ball, an attorney in the appellate division of the State Public Defender’s Office, is often praised for the way she tenaciously applies herself to pro bono work — for herself and for others.

“Colleen gives tirelessly of herself — both in time and in careful and creative thought — to create and move programs forward,” said Melissa Love Koenig, the chairwoman of the appellate practice section of the State Bar of Wisconsin.

This has given her an opportunity to work on programs to provide better appellate legal services. These include the Brief Assistant App, Appellate Help Desk, State Bar Appellate Practice Section and a program that connects Wisconsin lawyers with litigants who need pro bono appeals services. In the last 10 years of the pro bono program, attorneys have donated more than 16,000 volunteer hours and more than $4 million in fees.

“The thing the unrepresented need the most is a lawyer,” Ball said, “but if we can’t give them a lawyer you can tell just by listening to their questions the next best thing is a few minutes with a lawyer for advice.”

Since the inception of these programs, Ball has continued to devote much of her time and energy to their maintenance and improvement. She can find herself doing everything from making sure the Appellate Help Desk has enough people on staff to matching attorneys with litigants in need of pro bono services.

In 2016, the State Bar recognized Ball with its Lifetime Innovator award for her work to ensure everyone has access to justice.

She said what motivates her is the recognition that her work can help provide legal representation to those who can’t afford it. She knows that when clients receive good representation, their cases will be taken seriously, and they will benefit from due process.

But she also enjoys inspiring others.

“Many people are susceptible to infectious enthusiasm,” she said.