Julie Ford, Of Counsel

Julie Ford
Direct line:512-495-1448
jford@
georgeandbrothers.com

PRACTICE AREAS/NATURE OF PRACTICE

• Media defense, libel & privacy litigation, copyright litigation, pre-publication review, publishing contract litigation.
• General contract and business litigation.
• Consumer protection and real estate litigation.
• Constitutional litigation
• Named The Best Lawyers in America 2007 & 2008

RECENT REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

• Obtained summary judgment in Hidalgo County, Texas, for an international corporation in a DTPA action brought by a local computer salesman.
• Successfully represented an Austin homeowner in trial and on appeal in an easement dispute. Bobbitt v. Cantu, 2002 WL 472220 (Tex.App.—Austin 2002)
• Represented family of deceased child in challenging the constitutionality of state law that permitted eye banks to harvest corneas without the family’s consent.
• Represented HBO, a division of Time Warner Entertainment, L.P., in a lawsuit involving a software contract.
• Successful appeal to the Texas Supreme Court in libel action brought by a state district judge against HBO and actress and director Lee Grant, and successful appeals in related actions. Huckabee v. Time Warner Entertainment Co., L.P., 19 S.W.3d 413 (Tex. 2000); HBO v. Harrison, 983 S.W.2d 31 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist] 1998); Time Warner v. Hebert, 916 S.W.2d 47, (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1996).
• Obtained summary judgment on appeal for Texas Monthly magazine in libel action brought by Transamerican Natural Gas. Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Transamerican Natural Gas Corp., 7 S.W.3d 801 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1999)
• Obtained summary judgment for talk show host in invasion of privacy action. Anonsen v. Donahue, 857 S.W.2d 700 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1993).
• Represented publisher American Guidance Service in arbitration involving dispute over software development projects.
• Represented employee in appeal to the Texas Supreme Court involving a claim of negligent drug testing. Mission Petroleum Carriers, Inc. v. Solomon, 106 S.W.3d 705 (Tex. 2003)

PROFESSIONAL INVOLVEMENT

(Speeches, Seminars, Bar Activities, Organizations, etc;)

• Member, American Bar Association, Communications Law Section.
• Member, State Bar of Texas
• Member, Travis County Bar Association
• Member, Bar Association of the Fifth Circuit
• Speaker, Media Law Resource Center London Conferences, 2000 and 2003.

EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

• B.S., University of Texas, Austin, 1974
• J.D. with high honors, University of Texas School of Law, 1983
  • Order of the Coif
  • Chancellors, Keeper of the Peregrinus
  • Note Editor, Texas Law Review
• Law Clerk to the Honorable Homer Thornberry, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
• Law firm associations
  • Associate, Vinson & Elkins
  • Partner, Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody
  • Founding Partner, George, Donaldson & Ford, L.L.P.

ADMISSIONS

• Texas (1983)
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• United States Federal Court of Appeals
• United States District Court for the Western and Northern Districts of Texas