Timothy J. Ford

Tim represents clients in complex litigation, investigations, and appeals, with an emphasis on the public sector, including political and election law and ethics investigations. He assists clients in all phases of high-stakes, sensitive litigation and investigations, from pre-litigation advice, pleadings, motions practice, and discovery, through trial and appeal. He has advocated for his clients from appearing in discovery court to oral argument on a question of first impression before the Pennsylvania Superior Court to successfully briefing the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and federal appellate court.

In political and election law matters, Tim helps principals in government and politics accomplish their goals. Tim has worked in government and politics at the state and federal levels, on campaigns and in government, and in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Because of his intimate knowledge of the political environment, Tim offers political as well as legal advice. Representative matters include constitutional litigation in state and federal court, nomination petition challenges and defenses, and campaign finance and public ethics investigations.

Prior to joining the firm, Tim served as a law clerk to the Honorable Timothy J. Savage on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He also worked as an associate in a Washington, D.C. law firm where he focused on litigation and investigations in international trade and a Philadelphia law firm where he practiced commercial litigation and election law. During law school, Tim served as executive editor on the Michigan Law Review.

Representative Experience

• Successfully intervened on behalf of county political committee seeking to count as valid under Pennsylvania election law 592 mail-in ballots challenged for failure of voter to print complete address on the outer envelope in Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. v. Montgomery County Board of Elections, No. 2020-18680 (Pa. C.C.P. Montg. Cty. Nov. 13, 2020).
• Represented the City of Philadelphia in a challenge to the constitutionality of private grants for election administration leading to the dismissal of plaintiffs’ claims for lack of standing in Pennsylvania Voters Alliance v. Centre County, No. 4:20-cv-01761, 2020 WL 6158309 (M.D. Pa. Oct. 21, 2020), cert. denied, 2021 WL 78490 (U.S. Jan. 11, 2021).
• Successfully litigated and argued a line-by-line challenge to a nomination petition for Pennsylvania Senate, In re Nomination Petition of Elvira N. Berry, No. 150 M.D. 2020 in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, and won affirmance by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 227 A.3d 905 (Pa. 2020).
• Successfully intervened on behalf of voters, local political party chairs, and congressional candidates in litigation challenging Pennsylvania’s congressional districts in an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander, representing intervenors in trial before the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court and argument before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
• Advised a corporation on federal constitutional aspects of a potential state statute-based challenge to a major business transaction
• Represented candidates and voters in successful challenges to and defenses of nomination petitions.
• Advised clients from candidates for Congress to borough council on financial disclosure obligations under state and federal law.
• Represented parties in public ethics investigations before the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission, the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board, and the City of Philadelphia Board of Ethics.
• Drafted briefs in successful federal appellate litigation concerning proper calculation of antidumping duty rates.

Professional & Community Activities

• Buchholz Fellow, Committee of Seventy, 2020–Present
• Solicitor, Montgomery County Democratic Committee, 2019–Present; Committeeperson, 2018–2021

Speeches & Presentations

• March 5, 2020, Impact of Pennsylvania’s New Voting Laws on 2020 Primary Election, Colonial Area Democratic Committee
• April 30, 2019, Campaign Finance Compliance, Candidate Training, Montgomery County Democratic Committee
• February 18, 2019, Petition Training, Montgomery County Democratic Committee

• 02/03/22Dilworth Paxson Names 3 Attorneys to Partnership
• 03/28/2019 Dilworth Paxson Adds Litigation Attorney Timothy J. Ford

• 04/16/20Dilworth Wins Supreme Court Victory in Election Case While Courts Closed