MINNEAPOLIS - Ford & Harrison LLP, a national labor and employment law firm, is pleased to announce that Tina Petrocchi and Charles A. Roach will be joining the firm’s Minneapolis office as partners and Jody A. Ward will be joining as an associate. The group comes to Ford & Harrison from Rider Bennett, LLP, a Minneapolis general practice firm that announced its closure on April 10, 2007.
Charlie Feuss, managing partner of Ford & Harrison’s Minneapolis office, expressed his enthusiasm about bringing on the new members. “We are thrilled to bring in this group of such talented and well-established local attorneys. They will strengthen our capabilities here in the Twin Cities and fortify our firm’s legal practice in the Midwest and nationally.”
Tina Petrocchi practices in the area of employment counseling and litigation. She has experience investigating complaints of discrimination and harassment, evaluating and drafting employment policies and procedures, and drafting employment contracts and agreements, including non-competition and non-disclosure agreements. She served on the Board of Directors of StarBase Minnesota, a non-profit agency, and Something of Value, a non-profit program that mentors college women. Petrocchi has frequently been named a "Super Lawyer" and "Rising Star" by Minnesota Law & Politics magazine. She received her J.D. from Hamline University Law School and is admitted to the bar in Minnesota and North Dakota.
“We were attracted to Ford & Harrison because of the firm’s emphasis on quality client service and their singular focus on labor and employment law,” said Petrocchi. “The firm’s specialized expertise will serve our clients well and the national scope of the practice will benefit our local clients with other operations outside Minnesota.”
Charlie Roach was the Chair of Rider Bennett’s Labor and Employment Practice Group. His practice encompasses many areas of labor and employment law, with a concentration in substance abuse programs and business immigration law. Prior to attending law school, Roach lived in Southeast Asia for two years and worked for an international law firm in Jakarta, Indonesia. He received his law degree, cum laude, from the University of Minnesota Law School.
Jody Ward focuses her practice in the area of labor and employment litigation. She received her J.D., magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School where she was actively involved with the Asylum Law Project and the Civil Rights Moot Court, and was honored with the ABA Award for Leadership and Scholarship.