Overview

Tim Ford counsels clients through high-stakes, sensitive disputes, often involving political or public relations components. Tim is a strategic thinker who charts the best course for his clients. He practices regularly in the Pennsylvania Supreme and Commonwealth Courts, not only on appeal but also in King’s Bench and mandamus proceedings on matters of public importance from election administration to the opioid epidemic.

Tim is a leading political law attorney in Pennsylvania, helping businesses, government bodies, elected officials, candidates, and political committees accomplish their goals. 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, including defamation and commercial speech matters, ballot access challenges and defenses, canvasses of election results and recounts, and campaign finance and public ethics investigations. In compliance matters, Tim also assists with political committee and nonprofit formation and campaign finance and financial disclosures. Recognizing the layers of intersecting rules for political activity, Tim also prepares political compliance policies for entities with public contracts, lobbyists, and connected political action committees.

At Dilworth, Tim serves on the firm’s Diversity Committee and Political Involvement Committee and chairs Dilworth’s Election Law Committee, responsible for the firm’s political compliance. He founded Dilworth’s Political and Election Law practice group.

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 of the Michigan Law Review.

Representative Experience

  • Served as General Counsel to the candidate-authorized political committee and the transition and inauguration committee of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, Philadelphia’s 100th and first woman mayor.
  • On behalf of an online publication, defeated a defamation action at the pleading stage by arguing that allegedly defamatory statements were statements of opinion, not fact, and affirmed on appeal. Schillinger v. Pennsylvania Spotlight, 301 A.3d 894 (Pa. Super. 2023).
  • Won precedential decision allowing the use of unsworn declarations in lieu of notarized affidavits filed with nomination petitions in In re Turner, 291 A.3d 519 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2023).
  • Actively litigated a $350 million professional negligence action resulting in summary judgment for the defendant based on statute of limitations, leading to summary affirmance by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Nupson v. Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP, Civ. A. No. 18-2505, 2022 WL 4635943 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 30, 2022), aff’d, No. 22-3401, 2023 WL 4168893 (3d Cir. Feb. 3, 2023).
  • Successfully defended seller of real estate in breach of contract action after transaction failed to close, winning summary judgment and affirmance on appeal. Nowicki v. Crown Financial Corp., 284 A.3d 957 (Pa. Super. 2022), appeal denied, 297 A.3d 397 (Pa. 2023).
  • Won appeal of trial court order dismissing objections to nomination petitions for defective service in In re Bingham, 275 A.3d 1108 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2022).
  • Successfully defended a challenge to the Public Official and Employee Ethics Act’s two-filing rule for a Statement of Financial Interests by a candidate for Magisterial District Judge and won appeal in In re Griffis, 259 A.3d 542 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2021).
  • Defending a candidate for Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, won affirmance of the dismissal of an objection to nomination petitions for failure to strictly follow the Commonwealth Court’s Scheduling and Case Management Order on appeal to the Supreme Court in In re Nomination Petition of Caroline Turner, 248 A.3d 415 (Pa. 2021).
  • Successfully intervened on behalf of county political committee seeking to count as valid under Pennsylvania election law 592 mail-in ballots challenged for the failure of the voter to print the 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, 496 F. Supp. 3d 861 (M.D. Pa. 2020), cert. denied, 141 S. Ct. 1126 (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 Con duct 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

  • Adjunct Law Professor, Temple University Beasley School of Law, 2024–Present
    • Election Law
  • Co-Chair, Voting Rights and Election Integrity Advisory Committee, Moving Montco Forward (Montgomery County Commissioners Jamila Winder and Neil Makhija), 2024–Present
  • Hearing Committee Member, Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2023–Present
  • Pennsylvania Bar Association, 2023–Present
    • Civil and Equal Rights Committee
  • Board of Directors, Committee of Seventy, 2022–Present
    • Executive Committee; Finance Committee; Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee; Policy Committee and Working Groups
    • Buchholz Fellow, 2020–2021
  • Solicitor, Montgomery County Democratic Committee, 2019–Present; Committeeperson, 2018–2021

Speeches & Presentations

  • April 11, 2022, Panelist, “Voter Security or Voter Suppression?—An Examination of Election Legislation and Litigation Trends,” Election Law Update 2022, Pennsylvania Bar Institute
  • 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

Representative Experience

  • Served as General Counsel to the candidate-authorized political committee and the transition and inauguration committee of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, Philadelphia’s 100th and first woman mayor.
  • On behalf of an online publication, defeated a defamation action at the pleading stage by arguing that allegedly defamatory statements were statements of opinion, not fact, and affirmed on appeal. Schillinger v. Pennsylvania Spotlight, 301 A.3d 894 (Pa. Super. 2023).
  • Won precedential decision allowing the use of unsworn declarations in lieu of notarized affidavits filed with nomination petitions in In re Turner, 291 A.3d 519 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2023).
  • Actively litigated a $350 million professional negligence action resulting in summary judgment for the defendant based on statute of limitations, leading to summary affirmance by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Nupson v. Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP, Civ. A. No. 18-2505, 2022 WL 4635943 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 30, 2022), aff’d, No. 22-3401, 2023 WL 4168893 (3d Cir. Feb. 3, 2023).
  • Successfully defended seller of real estate in breach of contract action after transaction failed to close, winning summary judgment and affirmance on appeal. Nowicki v. Crown Financial Corp., 284 A.3d 957 (Pa. Super. 2022), appeal denied, 297 A.3d 397 (Pa. 2023).
  • Won appeal of trial court order dismissing objections to nomination petitions for defective service in In re Bingham, 275 A.3d 1108 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2022).
  • Successfully defended a challenge to the Public Official and Employee Ethics Act’s two-filing rule for a Statement of Financial Interests by a candidate for Magisterial District Judge and won appeal in In re Griffis, 259 A.3d 542 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2021).
  • Defending a candidate for Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, won affirmance of the dismissal of an objection to nomination petitions for failure to strictly follow the Commonwealth Court’s Scheduling and Case Management Order on appeal to the Supreme Court in In re Nomination Petition of Caroline Turner, 248 A.3d 415 (Pa. 2021).
  • Successfully intervened on behalf of county political committee seeking to count as valid under Pennsylvania election law 592 mail-in ballots challenged for the failure of the voter to print the 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, 496 F. Supp. 3d 861 (M.D. Pa. 2020), cert. denied, 141 S. Ct. 1126 (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 Con duct Board, and the City of Philadelphia Board of Ethics.
  • Drafted briefs in successful federal appellate litigation concerning proper calculation of antidumping duty rates.

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