Trial Lawyer Yaida Ford Appointed to JNC
November 16, 2021
Yaida O. Ford, founder of Ford Law Pros, P.C., has been appointed to the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission (JNC) by the D.C. Bar Board of Governors. An experienced trial lawyer representing clients in civil rights cases, employment law matters, and real estate disputes, Ford is admitted in nine courts.
Before launching her private practice in 2012, Ford worked as a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, then as a legislative counsel to D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham representing Ward 1. Previously she served as a law clerk for Judge Harold L. Cushenberry Jr. of the D.C. Superior Court after earning her JD from Howard University. Ford currently serves as chair of the D.C. Bar Rules of Professional Conduct Review Committee.
Reached for comment about her appointment, Ford said she sees the JNC as a gatekeeper between the bench and the bar, playing an important role in the selection of upstanding judicial candidates. “Just like any other job, it is important to weed out candidates so that you are separating wheat from chaff so to speak,” Ford said. “We need judges who approach this job with sobriety and who understand that the decisions they make carry grave consequences for litigants.”
The JNC screens, selects, and recommends to the president of the United States candidates for appointment to the D.C. Superior Court and D.C. Court of Appeals. The JNC also appoints the chief judges for both courts.
Ford said Americans have been paying more attention to judges and the judicial system since the trial over George Floyd’s killing. “I follow public trials closely, but I follow the remarks made by our citizens about those trials even more closely. Public trust in the judicial system and judges has completely deteriorated,” she said.
“I think District residents deserve fair-minded men and women on the bench who take the time to read and reason and who articulate their rationale with clarity so that both sides of a case understand how the judge reached that conclusion,” added Ford, a member of the board of the Washington Council of Lawyers and an active member of the National Police Accountability Project. “A judge who approaches their decision-making with a certain fairness and understanding, especially where they have discretion, would have a direct impact on outcomes for our residents and the public’s perception of the bench.”
Ford has successfully defended condominium associations involved in title actions against big banks and helped draft the District’s first HOA act as a delegate on the D.C. Legislative Action Committee of the Community Associations Institute.
Currently she is working on legislation to create a private cause of action for citizens who wish to sue the District’s transit authority, WMATA, when one of its police officers violates their civil rights. Ford’s most recent victory in her civil rights law practice is Hood-Wilson v. Community College of Baltimore County, where she appealed the dismissal of an employee’s claim of gender and race discrimination against the college.
The JNC, chaired by Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, comprises seven members, two of whom are appointed by the D.C. Bar Board of Governors. Two additional members are appointed by the D.C. mayor, and the remaining three are each appointed by the U.S. president, D.C. Council, and the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Members are appointed for a six-year term, except for the president-appointed member, who serves for five years.
Learn more about the JNC here.
