Irene Ringwood

Irene Ringwood was born in Spokane, Washington. She received her B.A. in 1980 from Washington State University and her J.D. in 1984 from Gonzaga University. Ms. Ringwood is a member of the bars of Washington State and the District of Columbia, but she is not admitted to practice in the Oregon State Bar. Ms. Ringwood joined Ball Janik LLP in 1996. Prior to joining the firm she worked in the Washington, D.C. office of Bogle & Gates, a Seattle-based firm. Before that, she worked in the U.S. House of Representatives for Representative Thomas S. Foley (D-WA). Irene Ringwood has twelve years of experience in Washington, D.C., seven of those years in private practice. Prior to private practice, Ms. Ringwood worked for Representative Thomas S. Foley (D-WA), who, during her tenure, was the Majority Whip and Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, and later became Speaker of the House. Ms. Ringwood's experience on the Hill with Mr. Foley included a two-year stint as his Counsel for the House Administration Subcommittee on Procurement and Printing, a researcher and writer for the House Democratic Whip office and a legislative assistant/counsel for issues such as energy, clean water, labor and judiciary. In addition, as a native of the 5th Congressional District of Washington state, she provided service as an intermediary and surrogate with the constituents of the district in Mr. Foley's absence. In addition to the trade work, Mr. Ringwood works closely with Mr. Hayes on natural resources issues, including the Endangered Species Act and other resource management and fish and wildlife statutes. She works with the American Sportfishing Association on legislative and regulatory issues, including the 10% excise tax on the sale of all fishing tackle. Further, Ringwood and Hayes dually represent the Direct Service Industries (DSIs) of the Pacific Northwest. The DSI association is largely comprised of Northwest-located aluminum companies whose issues range from electric industry restructuring to endangered salmon. For these and other clients, Ms. Ringwood works to develop an understanding of the impact of potential and actual federal actions on the industry, company or association, and helps to prioritize where resources are best directed in terms of legislative and regulatory goals. Her work requires her to constantly monitor a number of House and Senate committees and Executive departments and agencies for pending actions which may impact her clients. This information is constantly being synthesized, reduced and put into context for dissemination to the client at the intervals and in the depth that the client requires. Working relationships with a broad array of Hill and Administration staff are essential to this practice. Ringwood received her B.A. from Washington State University in 1980 and her J.D. from Gonzaga University in 1984. She is a native of Washington from the Spokane area.