In 1975, she wrote what one member of the American Bar Association Board of Governors later described as "a revolutionary book", titled, How to Create a System for the Law Office, which became a bestseller.
That work brought Ramo together with Miami lawyer Samuel S. Smith, who had been lecturing throughout the United States on similar themes.
As President of The American Law Institute, from 2008 to 2017, Ramo brought a focus on diversity to ALI's membership and Council election process, effectively bringing more women, minorities, and breadth of practice to the organization.
As President, she is also credited with inspiring confidence and participation from all members of the Institute and collegiality through some for the most complex and controversial project discussions.
[8] Ramo served as co-chair of the U.S. Olympic Committee appointed by Senators Ted Stevens and John McCain to suggest reform of the organization's structure.
In 2000, Ramo was made an honorary member of the Bar of England and Wales and of Gray's Inn, and was appointed to the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution's National Panel of Distinguished Neutrals.
[16] While a college student at the University of Colorado, Roberta Cooper was majoring in Italian and philosophy when she met Barry Ramo, a medical resident whose father was a Denver physician.
[17] The couple moved to North Carolina so that he could pursue a fellowship at Duke University, but Roberta was rejected by law firms there.
"I remember interviewing with one fellow who misread his list and probably thought it said 'Robert' and was really nice and explained there was just no way his firm would ever consider hiring a woman," Ramo told the Los Angeles Times.
[16] She eventually found a job with the Ford Foundation, then spent two years teaching constitutional law at historically black Shaw University in Raleigh during the civil rights struggle.
Ramo's father, David Cooper, was chairman of Western Warehouse, a clothing-store chain based in Albuquerque.