McGuireWoods selected partner Elizabeth P. Redpath as its representative member for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity’s 2023 Fellows Program and associates Luis F. Benavides and Kristen P. Courtney as representative members of the LCLD’s 2023 Pathfinders Program. McGuireWoods has been an LCLD member and participant since the organization was founded in 2009.
The LCLD Fellows Program, launched in 2011, is designed to help diverse, high-potential, mid-career attorneys excel in leadership roles and build stronger client relationships. The LCLD Pathfinders Program fosters professional development of lawyers early in their careers.
Practicing with the firm’s Labor & Employment Department in Richmond, Redpath defends companies against claims brought under nondiscrimination laws, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the National Labor Relations Act, state and federal wage-and-hour laws, and whistleblower laws. She also advises on noncompetition and trade secret disputes and conducts workplace investigations into harassment and retaliation allegations. Before joining McGuireWoods, Redpath was a U.S. Department of Justice trial lawyer and part of a group that advised Civil Rights Division leaders on legal and policy issues regarding discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex and HIV/AIDS status. A board member of the Virginia Equality Bar Association, Redpath has been named to the National LGBT Bar Association’s Best 40 LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40 list and Business Equality Network’s list of BEQ Pride 40 LGBTQ Leaders Under 40.
Based in Charlotte, Benavides practices with the firm’s Debt Finance Department, representing lenders and borrowers in finance transactions. He handles secured and unsecured credit facilities ranging in size from $20 million to more than $4 billion in a variety of industries, including healthcare, telecommunications, beverage, industrials and technology. He also is a licensed patent attorney with technology transfer experience. In 2022, he was named to the Hispanic National Bar Association’s Top Lawyers Under 40 list, and he was included in Best Lawyers’ Ones to Watch for banking and finance law in 2022 and 2023.
Courtney, who practices with the firm’s Real Estate & Land Use Department in Jacksonville, represents national banks, major grocery chains, and office and multifamily developers across Florida in multimillion-dollar commercial real estate deals. For a decade before becoming a lawyer, she served with meritorious distinction as a P-3 Naval Flight Officer involved in post-Sept. 11, 2001, military operations. She also oversaw the required training and combat readiness for 144 aircrew. In 2022 and 2023, she was included in Best Lawyers’ Ones to Watch for land use and zoning law, and in 2019, she was named to the Jacksonville Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list.
Atlanta partner Ken Neighbors, chair of the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee, said, “We are pleased to have Elizabeth serve as our representative LCLD fellow and to have Luis and Kristen participating in the Pathfinders Program this year. McGuireWoods is a longtime supporter of this organization and is committed to promoting diversity in the profession and supporting our diverse professionals through pipeline initiatives such as these.”
Founded in 2009, the LCLD is a national organization of more than 400 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners dedicated to creating a more open and diverse legal profession. McGuireWoods has been a member and active participant in the LCLD since the organization was founded in 2009. In 2021, the LCLD honored McGuireWoods with a Top Performers and Compass Award. The firm was one of only 60 LCLD member organizations to earn both honors.