Anita Bala has extensive experience representing clients in a variety of employment, civil rights, and disability discrimination disputes. Her experience includes claims involving race, sex, age, national origin, religion, and disability-related discrimination involving employees and students. She has also handled cases involving sexual assault of students in schools under federal Title IX, as well as civil cases involving police misconduct. Many of her cases have been covered by the media or have otherwise been high-profile.
Prior to joining Buckley Bala Wilson Mew, Anita represented several Atlanta area school systems for numerous years in a wide variety of litigation matters, including employment discrimination, civil rights, torts, whistleblower, Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act cases. Immediately after law school, Anita worked for the City of New York prosecuting child abuse and neglect cases. Over the course of defending public entities for ten years, Anita developed a deep compassion for individuals needing access to services or justice, but lacking the voice or resources to self-advocate. As a result, she moved to Buckley Bala Wilson Mew with the intention of answering the call to help individuals in adverse circumstances overcome legal obstacles.
Anita received her J.D. cum laude from the University of Georgia School of Law after completing her B.A. in International Studies from Emory University. She also spent a year abroad studying at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she pursued a course of study in the Department of International History. While in law school, Anita was active in the Criminal Defense Clinic and the Educational Law and Policy Forum, for which she wrote a scholarly article on the merits of alternative pathways to teacher certification. She also received a prestigious public interest law fellowship during her second year to pursue a criminal law internship in New York for the summer. In college, Anita served on the Board of the Emory chapter of the ACLU, and spent a year interning for Amnesty International.
Anita is a member of the State Bars of New York and Georgia, and is admitted to practice in the state courts of New York and Georgia, the Northern District of Georgia, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
In her spare time, Anita enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters. She also enjoys yoga, searching for the perfect noir thriller on Netflix, and blogging about her favorite restaurants around town.
