Robert E. Ford

Attorney at Law

Robert Ford was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1985 and served as Assistant State Attorney for the Twentieth Judicial District of Florida for nine years.

Since 1994 he has been in private practice.  One hundred percent of his practice is devoted to criminal trial law.  His office is located in downtown Tampa near the Criminal Courts Complex, where most of his practice is centered.  He deals with the Judges, State Attorneys and Law Enforcement of Hillsborough County on a daily basis. 

He has handled several thousand criminal cases and tried over 200 jury trials including 12 First Degree Murder Trials and 17 DUI Manslaughter Trials.  He has been lead counsel in cases involving a cocaine laboratory, Insurance Fraud, Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, Libyan Sanctions, and Theft of Intellectual Property. He has handled hundreds of DUI and misdemeanor cases.

Trial is not the first option any client should consider, but an Attorney without the ability to try a case will have great difficulty obtaining any other options for his client.

Trials force an Attorney to stay current on the constant changes in the Law and the Rules of Court.  That knowledge allows an Attorney to recognize any legal or factual defect in the State's Case, which may facilitate resolution without the necessity of trial.

Mr. Ford was one of the first Attorneys in Florida to handle a case based on DNA evidence and was sent to the FBI crime lab in Washington D. C. to review the reliability studies and legal precedent necessary to have that technology admitted into evidence in Florida.

Mr. Ford is conversant in the forensic sciences, which is necessary in the cross examination of State Experts and Medical Examiners.

A Defense Attorney's ability to win in trial encourages the State to offer a reasonable settlement.