Biography
For more than four decades, Ford Loker has represented clients on a wide range of mass tort and products liability litigation, at both the trial and appellate levels.
Ford maintains a general litigation practice concentrating on industry-wide litigation, class actions, negligence and insurance. Since 1981, he has represented a wide variety of defendants in asbestos personal injury and property damage litigation in Maryland and nationally. He has tried dozens of civil jury trials and has briefed and argued over 60 reported appellate decisions.
He has appeared as an expert witness in multiple insurance coverage lawsuits concerning the reasonableness of the defense and settlement of the underlying asbestos-related personal injury and property damage cases. Ford has written and lectured extensively in the fields of trial tactics, appellate advocacy and asbestos medicine.
Best Lawyers in America® twice named Ford its “Lawyer of the Year” in Maryland for defending mass tort litigation/class actions. Martindale-Hubbell gives him its highest rating, “AV - Preeminent,” and he has been listed as a Maryland Super Lawyer for many years.
Ford is a past president of the Maryland Defense Counsel Inc., a bar association for attorneys primarily engaged in the defense of civil actions.
Services
Industries
Education
- University of Maryland School of Law (J.D., with honors, 1973)
- University of Virginia School of Law
- Transferred due to military service
- College of the Holy Cross (A.B., 1969)
Bar Admissions
- District of Columbia, 1992
- Maryland, 1973
Professional Affiliations
- American Bar Association (1983-1995)
- Bar Association of Baltimore City (1984-1996)
- Defense Research Institute: Member (1985-2020); Former Annual Meeting Planning Committee Member; Former Industrywide Litigation Committee Member (Steering Committee, Editor of committee publication); Former Products Liability Committee Member; Former State Representative for Maryland; Former Toxic Tort and Environmental Law Committee Member
- International Association of Defense Counsel (1995-1998)
- Maryland State Bar Association (1981-present)
- Maryland Defense Counsel, Inc.: Member (1985-2020); President (1995-1996); Vice President (1994-1995); Secretary (1993-1994); Treasurer (1992-1993); Executive Board Member (1985-2005); The Defense Line, Editor (1985-1987)
Special Honors
- Best Lawyers in America®: "Lawyer of the Year," Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions - Defendants, Baltimore (2019 and 2023)
- Best Lawyers in America®: Selected for inclusion in the area of Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions - Defendants (2014-2026) and Litigation - Insurance and Product Liability Litigation - Defendants (2022-2026)
- Martindale-Hubbell's AV Preeminent® Rating: (1988-present)
- Maryland Super Lawyers®: Selected for inclusion in the area of Personal Injury Defense: Products, General Litigation and Insurance Coverage (2010-2012); Personal Injury - Products: Defense (2013-2021, 2024-2025)
Court Admissions
- United States Supreme Court
- United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- United States District Court for the District of Columbia
- United States District Court for the District of Maryland
