Richard Balnave came to the Law School in 1984 to direct the Family Law Clinic following eight years of practice. Balnave served as staff attorney and later managing attorney of Legal Services of Northeastern Pennsylvania, and then as counsel for social service agencies in Luzerne County, Penn.
An expert in the areas of domestic relations and children's law, he served on the board of governors of the Family Law Section of the Virginia State Bar and the Council of Domestic Relations Law Section of the Virginia Bar Association. He has lectured to Virginia circuit and district court judges and to the Virginia Court of Appeals about issues in Virginia domestic relations law. From 1990-96 he served on the Virginia Bar Association Commission on the Needs of Children, and since 1995 has been a member of the Supreme Court of Virginia's Court Improvement Project Advisory Committee Concerning Foster Care and Adoption. Balnave directed the Virginia Dispute Resolution Center from 1987-91, and served as a member of the Commission on the Future of Virginia's Judicial System in 1989.
Balnave is a past president of the board of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Legal Aid Society and a former board member of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Bar Association. He has assisted Virginia General Assembly studies concerning child support guidelines, mediation of child custody disputes and court-annexed arbitration.