Courtney E. Ballard Searcy

Courtney E. Ballard Searcy graduated from Duke University School of Law in 2007 with both a Juris Doctor degree and an L.L.M. in International Law, as a Merit/Academic Achievement Scholarship Recipient. She gained invaluable complex litigation experience as an associate attorney for five years at the preeminent trial firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP.

While still at Duke in the Summer of 2005, Ms. Ballard Searcy gained international litigation experience as a summer associate at Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu in Tokyo, Japan, where she researched and drafted memoranda of law for topics including white collar crime in Asian countries and Eastern economies; provided English editing services for legal documents drafted for financial transactions; attended weekly work group caseload meetings with associates and partners; and attended international symposia for transactional legal issues.

Subsequent to her time at Quinn Emanuel, Ms. Ballard Searcy further honed her litigation skills as a contract attorney at Karish & Bjorgum, PC in Pasadena, California, with a focus on intellectual property right cases involving copyright and trademark infringement and trade secrets; and at Thomas, Alexander, Forrester & Sorensen LLP in Venice, California, where she prosecuted complex accounting firm malpractice cases through civil litigation and consulting with governmental agencies, such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in the Middle District of Alabama, as well as ERISA disputes.

Prior to dedicating herself to a career in the law, Ms. Ballard Searcy made a difference by working with disadvantaged youth. Ms. Ballard Searcy also has served as an elected District A Representative for the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council in Los Angeles, California.

Ms. Ballard Searcy’s publications include: Sex Ratios and the r/K Continuum, Youngstown University Press, 1999; Instructor’s Manual to Law Enforcement in the U.S., Aspen Publishers, 2000.