Member Bio
E. Ford Stephens is a partner with Christian & Barton LLP in Richmond, Virginia. His practice focuses on insurance law, appeals and commercial litigation. Mr. Stephens represents property and casualty, and liability insurers, and life, health and disability insurers, in coverage matters and litigation in both state and federal courts throughout Virginia. He has handled appeals in the federal Fourth and Fifth Circuits, and in the Supreme Court of Virginia.
Mr. Stephens is a member of The American College of Coverage Counsel, The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, The Fellows of the Virginia Law Foundation and the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC). He is the Former Chair, Committee on Continuing Legal Education, which oversees the non-profit educational division of the Virginia Law Foundation, 2007-2011. Mr. Stephens was included in Virginia Super Lawyers for Insurance Coverage in 2013-2023 and for Business Litigation in 2010-2012, and in Best Lawyers in America for Insurance Law, Litigation-Insurance, in 2015-2024.
Mr. Stephens served as the program chair for the 2011 DRI Life, Health, Disability and ERISA Claims Seminar, as a Committee Vice Chair (2012-2014) and as Committee Chair (2014-2016) of the Life, Health and Disability Committee. He then served on the DRI Board of Directors from 2019-2022, the DRI Insurance Roundtable Steering Committee from 2016-2023, and the DRI Membership Committee from 2017-2022. Since 2022, he has been on DRI's Law Institute.
Mr. Stephens is a frequent lecturer on insurance issues, including at the DRI Insurance Coverage and Practice Symposium in 2012 and 2022, DRI’s Boot Camp for New Life, Health and Disability Lawyers in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021, and the DRI Life, Health, Disability & ERISA Claims Seminar in 2006, 2009, 2014 and 2017.
Mr. Stephens is a frequent author, having contributed to the following publications: “Statutory Interpleader in Federal Court – A Cure for Conflicting Claims,” IADC Insurance and Reinsurance Committee Newsletter (January, 2014); DRI’s Writing a Reservation of Rights: A North American Compendium (2014); the ABA's ERISA Survey of Federal Courts (2005, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022); "The Vexation of Conflicting Claims: Rule and Statutory Interpleader in Federal Court," For The Defense, October 2012; DRI’s Excess and Umbrella Insurance State-by-State Compendium (2011); DRI Removal Deskbook — Getting Your Case to Federal Court (2011); "Coverage Within the Ivy Walls: Select Insurance Issues Involving College Students," For The Defense, May 2009; and the ABA's Misrepresentation in the Life, Health, Disability Insurance Application Process: A National Survey (2009, 2015 and 2022).
Mr. Stephens is a member of Leadership Metro Richmond (Class of 2010), was a volunteer at Central Virginia Legal Aid (1989-2011, 2013-2014) and with United Way of Greater Richmond (1992-1995).