FORT SMITH -- Fort Smith lawyer Mark E. Ford has been selected to serve as the new federal magistrate in the federal court's Western District and will preside over the Fort Smith and Harrison divisions beginning in January.
Ford will take office Jan. 3, according to a news release from the federal court, and will succeed Magistrate James R. Marschewski, who is retiring Jan. 2 with the completion of his eight-year term.
"I'm excited to begin to serve as magistrate and I hope to do as well as my predecessors," Ford said.
He said he felt honored to be succeeding Marschewski and, before him, Beverly Stites-Jones, who he said were both good judges who served the district well.
Ford has been a partner of the Fort Smith law firm Robertson, Beasley and Ford PLLC since 2009, according to the release. Since his appointment, he has taken "of counsel" status with the firm, which has been renamed Robertson, Beasley, Shipley and Redd PLLC, until he takes office.
Ford's biography on the firm's website said he has more than 28 years of law experience, concentrating on trial and appellate practice. He has represented individual and business clients in Arkansas and Nebraska on such cases as criminal defense in state and federal court, insurance, bankruptcy, civil-rights claims, divorce, contract disputes, personal injury, and workers compensation.
He said one of his first federal court cases in Fort Smith was as standby counsel for one of the men charged with sedition in a trial that lasted three months in the mid-1980s.
"That got me excited about trying cases in federal court," Ford recalled.
Ford earned his law degree in 1985 from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1982 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
As magistrate, Ford's duties will include preliminary proceedings in criminal cases, trial and disposition of misdemeanor cases, pretrial and evidentiary proceedings assigned by the district judge, settlement conferences, Social Security appeals, and trial and disposition of some civil cases.
"Magistrates play a huge role and are critical to what we do," U.S. District Court Clerk Chris Johnson said.
Ford's selection as magistrate was the culmination of a process that began in May, Johnson said. Western Arkansas Chief U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III put together a seven-member Merit Selection Panel, composed of five lawyers and two nonlawyers, to evaluate approximately 50 applications for the position and recommend five finalists.
Holmes and district judges Susan O. Hickey and Timothy L. Brooks interviewed the five finalists in July and August and made their selection, Johnson said. Ford's selection became final last month with the completion of an FBI background check.
Metro on 11/18/2014