Michael J. Ford
Wells Fargo Center
Sixth Floor, 400 South First Street
St. Cloud, MN 56301
mford@quinlivan.com | (320) 258-7848

A self-described “solo at heart,” Mike Ford practices with Quinlivan & Hughes PA in St. Cloud. Mike has a longstanding interest in law office management issues, issues of concern to outstate lawyers, general practice issues, and he is a faithful attendee at the Strategic Solutions Conference in Duluth. Mike is a Past President of the Minnesota State Bar Association, the Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association, and the Stearns & Benton County Bar Association. He has been selected as a Minnesota “Super Lawyer” each year since 2001 and was recently named as one of Minnesota Lawyer’s “Attorneys of the Year” for his leadership of the MSBA. Mike will speak at the Strategic Solutions Conference this year on two panels, one about handling challenges with tough clients and another presenting the results of the 2010 Solo and Small Firm Practice Survey.

My practice is
ADR (alternative dispute resolution), civil litigation, products liability, insurance coverage, appeals, environmental law, employment law, government liability, land use, and professional liability.

What else I do
Employer support of the Guard and Reserve Ombudsman

What I would be doing if not practicing law
FBI or CIA agent

A recent achievement
Helping settle 17 cases in four straight days of mediation

A recent challenge
Making and obtaining a difficult summary judgment motion

How I solved it
Having an associate, smarter than me, write the brief

My coolest software/ website/ gadget
Blackberry phone and personal data assistant

A tip for other s/s lawyers
Return your phone calls, be where you say you will be when you say you will be, and do what you way you will do.

The book(s) I am reading
Gods and Generals by Shaara, The Hemsingses of Monticello by Gordon-Reed, So Sad to Fall in Battle: An Account of War Based on General Tadamichi Kuribashi’s Letters from Iwo Jima by Kakehashi, Attila by Napier, The Steel Wave by Shaara, and Team of Rivals by Goodwin.

The latest movie I saw
Knight and Day

My favorite rock star/group
The Beatles

My favorite wine
Shiraz

The best advice I ever gave my kids
People are never as bad, or as good, as you think they are.

Five things few people know about me
1) I am a school-trained Departure Airfield Control Officer (DACO), Marshaling Area Control Officer (MACO), Drop Zone Safety Officer (DZSO), Air Movement Control Officer (AMCO), Jumpmaster and Jungle Warfare Expert and can still sing all the words to the 82nd Airborne Division song; 2) I played for the last losing team that legendary coach John Gagliardi of Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota ever led in over fifty years of coaching – and he only had two losing teams in that time span; 3) I garnered ten percent of the vote while running for Student Government President my senior year in college; 4) My wife and I prefer to cruise on vacation rather than engage in air and land travel so that we only have to unpack our luggage once a trip; 5) When I walk my dog, I try to pick up after him, most of the time.