During the two years before Ratliff entered law school, she taught in the North Carolina public schools. In 1976, she began practice with the North Central Legal Assistance Program in Durham as a staff attorney, specializing in housing law. She remained there until 1987 and during that time held the positions of supervising attorney, managing attorney, and acting director. In 1987, she joined the UNC-Chapel Hill law faculty as a supervising attorney in the Civil Legal Assistance Clinic. In addition to supervising the civil clinic, she taught civil lawyering process and professional responsibility. She remained with the Civil Clinic as a Clinical Professor until 2006. She is currently teaching professional responsibility.