Welcome to the
Law Office of Chris Ford

Primary Areas of Practice:
• Appeals
• Civil Litigation
• Civil Rights

Chris Ford brings unique skills to his law practice, primary among them his advanced writing capabilities, honed for more than a decade as a journalist and while writing publication-quality papers in two languages as a law student.

Mr. Ford puts these capabilities to effect where they count, in appellate and law-and-motion practice. He combines thorough legal research with a clear, readable writing style, crafting potent and winning legal arguments.

The Law Office of Chris Ford handles appellate and civil rights cases, as well as probate, family and other civil litigation matters.

Recently Mr. Ford won a partial reversal at the California Court of Appeal and has contributed to successful litigation in a Freedom of Information Act case in which the plaintiffs seek records from the United States military pertaining to the war in Iraq. See Hiken v. Dept. of Defense, 521 F.Supp.2d 1047 (N.D.Cal. 2007). He also has litigated successfully under the California Public Records Act and currently is involved in a civil rights lawsuit stemming from the violent response by the Los Angeles Police Department to a peaceful May Day demonstration seeking immigration reform. See MIWON v. City of Los Angeles, CV-07-3072 (C.D. Cal. filed May 9, 2007). Mr. Ford, who attended the May Day rally as a National Lawyers Guild legal observer, wrote an opinion piece regarding the incident that was published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal on May 9, 2007.

Prior to attending law school, Mr. Ford worked as a journalist for more than a decade, including nearly six years as an editor and reporter for the Los Angeles Daily Journal, the nation's largest daily legal trade newspaper. Mr. Ford's supervisors at the Daily Journal, recognizing his advanced writing skills, gave him reporting assignments while he worked as an editor. Such assignments are highly unusual at daily newspapers.

During law school, Mr. Ford accomplished the rare feat of having all three of the papers he wrote for class assignments published in law journals. Moreover, he wrote a legal paper in Spanish while serving as an extern to the Supreme Court of Argentina. The paper, advocating free speech rights for demonstrators under the Argentine Constitution and international law, earned the top score among the participants in the externship program and was considered for publication in La Ley, a prominent law journal in Argentina.