Christopher K. Ralston, JD, is a partner and practice coordinator in the New Orleans litigation practice at Phelps. Mr. Ralston handles a range of commercial litigation and focuses in the areas of antitrust law, business torts, trade secret litigation and contract disputes, tax litigation, securities litigation and arbitration, direct selling, and intellectual property litigation. He also serves as a part of the firm’s appellate practice, having had successful appeals at all five of the Louisiana Courts of Appeal as well as at the Fifth, Tenth and the Federal Circuit of the federal Courts of Appeal. He earned his law degree from Tulane Law School and his undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary. After law school, he served as a judicial law clerk to U.S. District Judge Eldon E. Fallon.

Mr. Ralston’s work in the legal field has received recognition in numerous forms: In 2012, he was named to the New Orleans City Business Leadership in Law Hall of Fame; in 2016, he received both the Federal Bar Association’s New Orleans Chapter President’s Award and the Louisiana State Bar Association’s President’s Award; in 2013 and 2016, he received the Louisiana Bar Foundation’s President’s Award; and in 2021, he received the David A. Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award from the Louisiana State Bar Association. Mr. Ralston is recognized by many peer review publications, including Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Louisiana Super Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in America, Marquis Who's Who in America for Excellence in Law, and New Orleans Magazine.

After recognizing the devastating impact of diabetes in New Orleans, Mr. Ralston joined the ADA’s New Orleans Community Leadership Board (CLB) in 2009, and he has served as Chair of the CLB since 2014. He has served in several national and local volunteer roles, including as Chairman of the ADA’s National Board of Directors from 2021-2022 and on the National Board of Directors since 2018. In 2011, Mr. Ralston was awarded the ADA’s National Chair’s Citation, the seventh time the honor was bestowed in the ADA’s history, for raising awareness about the prevalence of diabetes in Louisiana through his walk of 300 miles in 10 days across Louisiana.