GREENBRIER COUNTY W.Va. (WVDN) – I’m Grady Ford and I’m running for Family Court Judge for Greenbrier and Monroe Counties. I hope to earn your vote in the non-partisan election being held on May 14, 2024. I was born and raised in the Greenbrier Valley. No matter where I’ve lived, it has always been home. I live just outside of Lewisburg with my wife, Jocelyn, and our eight- and five-year-old daughters. In addition to practicing law, I’ve been honored to serve in a leadership role in the State Bar as a member of its Board of Governors (2021-current) and as a member of the board of directors of several local non-profits in the Greenbrier Valley, including the Lewisburg Child Youth and Advocacy Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Greenbrier Historical Society (former).
After graduating from Greenbrier East in 2002, I moved to Morgantown and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with minors in political science and philosophy, from West Virginia University. I stayed at WVU for law school, where I served as an editor of the West Virginia Law Review for two years and graduated as a member of the Order of the Coif in 2009.
After law school, I – like many new lawyers – began my legal career in Charleston, West Virginia, where I served a law clerk for the Honorable Judge Robert B. King of the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for one year, several years practicing at Jackson Kelly PLLC and finally at the City Attorney’s Office for the City of Charleston.
It had always been our plan to move back to the Greenbrier Valley, and after six years in Charleston, Jocelyn and I were excited to move home in 2015 in anticipation of our first daughter who was set to join us in October. I joined my father, Rich, and grandfather, Dick, at the Ford Law Firm PLLC. While Granddad had, by and large, wound up his law practice by then, it meant the world to all three of us to have three generations of Ford lawyers working together at the same time at the family firm. Family is the most important thing to me. And I know that it is for substantially all of the people that go through the family court system as well.
Since moving back to Greenbrier County nearly ten years ago, a substantial portion of my practice has been representing individuals (as counsel) and children (as guardian ad litem) in family court. I know and have seen first-hand how difficult the process can be and the stress that it puts on parties, and their children that are often in the middle. I have the right mix of real-life experience, professional experience, temperament, and judgement to ably serve Greenbrier and Monroe Counties’ Family Court Judge. If given the opportunity I will work to process cases and matters coming before the family court expeditiously to decide matters, particularly those involving children, and craft resolutions in commonsense fashion based on the law and the facts while treating everyone with the fairness, respect, and dignity to which they are entitled.
One of the great things about local elections is that you can actually get to know about the candidates, their reputation in the community. If you don’t know a specific candidate, someone you know and trust almost certainly does. Ask around. Talk to your friends and family. And be sure to vote in the May 14 primary/non-partisan election!
