[3][4] In 1918, he was appointed by the court to defend a charge of first degree murder in case of a husband killing his mother-in-law.
[7] He was assigned to a series of offices, including Los Angeles, then Sacramento, and by late 1922 back to San Francisco.
[7] Ward received the most write in votes to succeed Shurtleff for the short interim term running from the election of November 7, 1922, to January 8, 1923.
[10] After stepping down from the bench on January 7, 1923, he formed a law firm in San Francisco with Fred Berry, with whom he practiced until March 1924.
[1] In 1916, he married Blanche Evelyn Ahlers (April 24, 1889 – December 2, 1961) of San Francisco, a 1911 literature graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, whom he had met vacationing in Yosemite Valley.