Ford & Paulekas, LLP

What the firm handles

Business law is the main focus of this Hartford firm, and it has been since 1979. Ford & Paulekas represents institutional, insurance, commercial and individual clients in their business and investment activities. The firm works on a regional and national basis, and its clients span several states.

The practice areas the firm lists give a clear picture of the work. They include real estate, commercial litigation, real estate litigation, insurance litigation, workouts and insolvency, lending, corporate law, employment law, and trusts and estates. Several of these connect in practice: a real estate deal can turn into real estate litigation, and a lending relationship can lead to a workout when a borrower runs into trouble.

Real estate and lending across the firm

Real estate shows up more than once on the firm's list, both as a transactional area and as its own litigation area. Paired with the lending practice, this points to a firm that can handle a property deal's financing and any dispute that follows. Real estate finance also links back to Paul Ford's stated work with institutional investors, so the emphasis is visible in both the firm's list and its named partner.

Lending connects directly to that real estate work. A lender's counsel drafts loan documents, checks collateral, and sets the terms a borrower must meet, and the same lawyers are well placed to step in when a loan sours. The firm's national lending programs suggest it has done this at volume for banks and other institutions handling many loans.

How the team is built

The firm lists eleven attorneys, which is a mid-sized roster for a business practice of this kind. Named on the site are Paul W. Ford, Walter E. Paulekas, David A. Hill, Lawrence A. Dvorin, Matthew H. Youmans, Elizabeth M. Cristofaro, Dale M. Clayton, Houston Putnam Lowry, Patrick M. Huse, Kate Torres and Bianca D'Acunto. That is enough hands to run litigation and transactional matters at the same time.

Paul W. Ford, a partner, is the one attorney whose background the site sets out in full. He earned a B.A. magna cum laude from Boston University in 1972, an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1975, and a J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law in 1978. He was a member of the University of Maine Law Review from 1976 to 1978, and he was admitted in Massachusetts in 1978 and in Connecticut in 1979.

Ford's own work covers institutional investors in commercial real estate finance transactions and the private placement of debt and equity securities. In my opinion, that profile fits the firm's wider focus on lending and real estate, and it points to the kind of complex financing the office is set up to handle.

Reach beyond Hartford

Since the 1990s, Ford & Paulekas has handled international business and development matters in Mexico, Western Europe and the Middle East. Cross-border work of this kind involves local counsel, currency and tax questions, and contracts drafted to hold up in more than one legal system. For a firm working from a single Connecticut office, that international history is a notable part of the story.

Closer to home, the firm has helped design and implement national lending programs for small business and community association loans on behalf of several financial institutions. Building a lending program differs from closing a single loan: it means drafting standard documents, setting eligibility rules, and creating a process a bank can repeat at scale. In my opinion, that work shows a firm comfortable advising institutions as well as individual borrowers.

How these matters typically proceed

Commercial litigation, one of the firm's listed areas, usually starts with pleadings and discovery, then heads toward either a negotiated resolution or a trial before a judge or jury. Insurance litigation often turns on policy language and coverage questions, which lawyers argue on the documents as much as on the facts. These two areas ask for different habits of mind, and the firm names both among its areas of work.

Workouts and insolvency are among the harder parts of business law. A workout is an attempt to restructure a troubled loan before it reaches court, while insolvency work can move into formal proceedings. Trusts and estates completes the list, and the firm connects it to its business clients by offering estate planning alongside their commercial and real estate needs.

Track record and staying power

A firm founded in 1979 has kept a business practice going for more than four decades, and as a reviewer I read that longevity as a fair sign of steady client work. The site does not publish case results or client counts. This review draws on what the firm states about its focus and its people.

The blend of transactional and litigation work is worth noting for anyone comparing options. A client with a real estate deal, a coverage dispute and an estate plan could keep all three inside one office. Ford & Paulekas works from a single Hartford location and covers business formation, financing, real estate, corporate and employment questions, and the litigation that follows when deals go wrong. The firm has operated from Hartford since 1979 and lists eleven attorneys today.