News Release

Kristi W. Richard Receives 2023 LCLD Atlas Award

March 5, 2024

McGlinchey Stafford is pleased to announce Kristi W. Richard has received the inaugural Atlas Award for participation in the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellows program. Commemorating participants who showed the highest levels of dedication, the first-time Atlas Award recognizes Fellows who attended 10 or more program components during their program year. The Fellows program identifies, trains, and advances the next generation of leaders in the legal profession. Kristi was McGlinchey’s 2023 LCLD Fellow, and one of 62 Atlas Award honorees.

“Kristi is service-oriented and gives generously of her time and talent,” said Eliska Plunkett, McGlinchey’s Chief Diversity Officer and Director of Human Resources. “Her commitment to inclusiveness and equity is a common thread woven through all of her leadership efforts in her community, the legal profession, and our firm. We commend LCLD for honoring Fellows who go above and beyond to get the most out of their participation in this program. The industry will benefit from the impacts that Kristi and the other honorees make for years to come.”

As a Member (Partner) in the firm’s Baton Rouge office, Kristi advises clients across the U.S. in the areas of insurance regulation and compliance and corporate and transactional matters. She is ranked by Chambers USA’s Louisiana Corporate/M&A list, Best Lawyers’ Insurance Law list, and was recognized as a “Rising Star” by Louisiana Super Lawyers for her work in corporate law. She serves as co-chair of Uplift, the McGlinchey Women’s Initiative. Kristi is the Vice-Chair of Loan Documentation for the American Bar Association’s Commercial Finance Committee.

Kristi is involved in numerous legal and community organizations, currently serving on the Board of the Greater Baton Rouge YWCA and as chair of the legal ad hoc committee of the Junior League of Baton Rouge. She has served in the Louisiana State Bar Association, including as Wills for Heroes Co-Chair, Young Lawyers Division Representative, and on the Awards Committee. She has received accolades from numerous local non-profit and leadership organizations. Kristi is also a full-time professor of Business Law at Louisiana State University.

LCLD’s Fellows Program emphasizes development in three core competencies: relationship building, transformational leadership, and professional branding. McGlinchey has been a member of the LCLD since its inception and has had an attorney participate in the Fellows Program every year since 2011.

McGlinchey has been honored as a Law Firm “Top Performer” by the LCLD for five years, and the firm has twice received the LCLD’s highest recognition, the Compass Award. Since 2012, McGlinchey has also offered an annual 1L Fellowship through the LCLD Scholars program to a first-year law student, which includes a $5,000 scholarship, a paid Summer Associate position, and formal mentorship from McGlinchey attorneys.

The LCLD is an organization of more than 400 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners working to promote inclusiveness in legal institutions, in circles of influence, and in society, with the ultimate goal of building a more open and diverse legal profession. The LCLD Fellows Program has trained over 2,000 mid-career attorneys since 2011.