Our Team

As a non-traditional law student, Ms. Ford worked full time as a Human Resources Manager at Rutgers University while attending law school in the evening. After graduating, Ms. Ford began her legal career as a Judicial Law Clerk at the Superior Court of New Jersey – Essex County Vicinage in the Criminal Division under the Honorable Harold Fullilove, Jr., J.S.C. She then took a role as a Special Deputy Attorney General/Acting Assistant Prosecutor where she worked in the Bail Reform Unit, then in the Special Victims Unit, on Domestic Violence matters and occasionally with Juveniles. From there, Ms. Ford ventured out on her own to build a full-service law firm (Law Office of Nilaja S. Ford, Esq.) where she specializes in family law and complex matrimonial/custody litigation.  

Ms. Ford is a very active servant and mentor in the legal community. Ms. Ford was recently named 2022 “Top 40 Under 40 Nation’s Best Advocates” by the National Bar Association. She was also named as a Trustee of the IOLTA Fund of the Bar of New Jersey for a five-year term beginning in March of 2022. Ms. Ford received a President’s Award for her work with the National Bar Association during the 2020-2021 bar year and was also named as a 2021 “New Leader of the Bar” by the New Jersey Legal Journal for her bar leadership work. Ms. Ford was previously featured by Essence Magazine on her experience as a black women in law: https://www.essence.com/lifestyle/celebrate-black-women-in-law/.   

Leadership Positions: Region III Director of the National Bar Association (PA, NJ and DE); Vice President of the Association of Black Women Lawyers of New Jersey; Board of Directors & Co-Chair of the Substantive Law Committee for the Garden State Bar Association; a 2021-2022 Fellow of the American Bar Association Family Law Section; Domestic Violence Chair and Communications Vice-Chair of the American Bar Association Family Law Section; and on the Executive Committee/a Founding Member of the Rutgers Alumnae Network.