NEW ORLEANS – U.S. District Judge Sarah S. Vance, president of the New Orleans Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, presented the 2016 President’s Award to Phelps Dunbar partner Chris Ralston at the organization’s annual meeting Thursday, August 25, 2016, at the Westin Canal Place.
This award was created after Hurricane Katrina to recognize a lawyer for his or her contributions to community leadership outside the practice of law. Ralston is the second Phelps Dunbar attorney to receive the recognition, the first having been Partner Kim Boyle.
As a partner and deputy practice coordinator in Phelps Dunbar’s New Orleans litigation group, Ralston handles a range of commercial litigation matters and focuses in the areas of antitrust law, business torts, contract disputes, tax litigation, securities litigation and arbitration, direct selling and intellectual property litigation. He also serves as part of the firm’s appellate practice, on the ethics and pro bono committees, as co-leader of the Small & Emerging Business Team and as a member of the recruiting team.
Ralston has volunteered his time to the Ozanam Inn since 1999, during which time he has been an invaluable partner, representing both the homeless shelter and its residents in myriad legal matters. He has also led a group of local attorneys to serve lunch at Ozanam Inn twice each month every month for the past 16 years and has organized firm-sponsored weekend lunch programs.
Outside of the courtroom and his work with the Federal Bar, Ralston is president-elect of the New Orleans Bar Association, board chairman of the American Diabetes Association’s Louisiana Chapter, vice president and a board member of the Pro Bono Project and Southeast Louisiana Legal Services, and a member of the Tulane University Alumni Association’s board of directors. He is also a Fellow of the Louisiana Bar Foundation and serves on its board of directors.
With offices positioned along the Gulf Coast from Houston to Tampa, Phelps Dunbar is a regional law firm of more than 260 attorneys to serve clients in the major commercial centers of the burgeoning “Third Coast” of the United States. Locations in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Jackson, Tupelo and Gulfport, Mississippi; Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas; Tampa, Florida; Mobile, Alabama; Raleigh, North Carolina; and London enable Phelps Dunbar to serve clients not only along the Third Coast, but also the South, nationwide and abroad.
