Ruth Anne French

Ruth Anne French-Hodson focuses her practice on complex bet-the-company litigation, class actions and appeals. She capitalizes on her experiences as a federal clerk at both the trial and appellate levels to help clients assess current and future litigation challenges.

She has worked on both individual and multidistrict matters in courts across the country for a broad range of industries including pharmaceuticals, energy infrastructure and extraction, and product manufacturers. Ruth Anne understands the importance of developing discovery and trial records to preserve important issues if appellate review becomes necessary.

Ruth Anne is also firmly committed to providing pro bono services. Notably, she led an appellate team that secured a significant Missouri state appellate court victory ensuring that custodians of children who are entitled to counsel can access that help and that hearings in family court are full and fair for all participants. She also represents inmates presenting habeas petitions and in other pro bono appeals.

At Yale Law School, Ruth Anne was active in Yale Law Women, serving on the board as Community & Outreach chair and co-chairing a nationally publicized report on gender and legal education, Yale Law School Students and Faculty Speak Up about Gender: Ten Years Later. Through her clinic, she spent two years assisting the New Haven Corporation Counsel with affirmative projects related to housing conditions, accessible taxis and immigration detainers. Before attending law school, Ruth was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, which supported her graduate education at the University of Oxford.

Education:

• J.D., Yale Law School, 2012
  • Yale Law Women, Community & Outreach Chair
  • Yale Law School Students Speak Up about Gender: Ten Years Later, Co-Chair
  • Federal Courts in a Federal System, Teaching Assistant
• D.Phil., University of Oxford, 2010
• M.Phil., University of Oxford, 2007
• B.A., with honors and highest distinction, University of Kansas, 2005 (Political Science)

Bar Admissions:

• Missouri

Community Involvement:

• Yale Law Women Advisory Board (2013-2014)
• Rhodes Class Leader (2013-Present)
• American Royal, Governor
• University of Kansas Honors Program
• American Association of Rhodes Scholars
• BikeWalkKC, Board of Directors
• University of Kansas, Political Science Department, Commencement Speaker (May 2018)
• Frank Rushton Elementary PTA

Clerkships:

• The Hon. Jon O. Newman, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
• The Hon. Michael A. Ponsor, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts