Elizabeth Ford
Liz Ford joined UW Law as an Assistant Dean on June 21, 2010. In this position she oversees finance and budget, human resources, and other administrative and operational functions of the School of Law.
Before coming to the University, Liz has served in academia, government service and private practice. As the Manager of King County's Labor Relations Division in 2008, she directed the administration of more than 90 labor agreements setting wages, benefits and working conditions for 14,000 public employees. In addition to designing new systems for addressing and resolving institutional conflict, Liz oversaw a staff of negotiators and analysts, and collaborated closely with the King County Office of Management and Budget. After returning to teaching, she continued to provide strategic consultation to the King County Executive on a strategic plan and the restructuring of labor relations and human resources function. As Chief Counsel for the Washington State Nurses Association Liz served as in-house counsel and provided strategic guidance to the organization in areas of personnel, budget, governance, regulatory compliance and external communications. As a partner in the firm Schwerin, Campbell, Bernard, Liz represented labor unions in every facet of their operation and had responsibility for the firm's personnel and financial operations.
Liz has also taught at both the University of Washington and at Seattle University, teaching courses in dispute resolution, labor law, legal writing, and women's studies. She founded SU's mediation clinic in 2006. Liz serves frequently as a mediator and arbitrator primarily in labor and employment disputes. In 2005, she was appointed by the Governor to serve on the Marine Employees Commission where she assisted the Washington State Ferries and its unions by serving as a mediator and by sitting as a hearing officer. She is also a member of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and Public Employment Relations Commission's panel of arbitrators and sits regularly as arbitrator in labor and employment disputes.
In addition to her academic work and practice, Liz serves on a variety of committees and boards. She is a past president of the Northwest Women's Law Center (now Legal Voice) and chaired the 2008 Pacific Coast Labor and Employment Law Conference's Labor Law Planning Committee.
Liz is located in the Dean's Suite in room 374. Her email address is forde2@u.washington.edu and her phone number is 543-2458.