with an Officer’s Eye
Theodore J. Blanford draws on his military
and police experience in and out of the courtroom
BY SARAH ASP OLSON
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DARIO IMPINI
In his 62 years, Theodore J. Blanford
has been a cop, a soldier and a military
police officer. And he’s found a way to
apply the skills he learned in each role to
his legal practice.
After completing a tour with the U.S.
Air Force, Blanford returned to Richmond,
Ind., and joined the local police force,
rising through the ranks and eventually
taking a position as lieutenant with
the Indiana State Police. But he grew
increasingly frustrated with how cases
were prosecuted. That’s when he started
to think about law school.
“I got to the point where I thought,
maybe I can make the police officers feel
better about how their cases are being put
together,” he says.
Encouraged by several judges and
prosecutors, Blanford enrolled in Indiana
University School of Law, graduating in
1984. He’s now been practicing for 26 years
and focuses on tort litigation defense,
including wrongful death, medical and legal
malpractice, and environmental cases. He’s
worked more than 50 jury trials and argued
in front of the Indiana Court of Appeals and
the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
