Citizen Lawyer Kristi Walters
Article Date: Friday, June 26, 2009
Written By: by Josh Smith
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Kristi Walters
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When Kristi Kessler Walters began the practice of law, she had no idea that her
career and core values of diversity and access to education would form the
cooperative relationship they share today. It is her commitment to those core
values that led to her selection by the North Carolina Bar Association as one of
only 12 outstanding Citizen Lawyer award winners honored in 2009 for exceptional
service to the community outside the scope of their law practice.
Walters
began her service to the Charlotte community as a board member of the Charlotte
Housing Authority Scholarship Fund in 2002. She remains on the board and also
serves on the fund’s Governance Task Force as co-chairperson, as well as on the
executive committee and Transition Task Force. Her involvement with the fund
furthers access to quality education for local youth.
Walters also serves
on the board of the Community School of the Arts where she strives for
accessible arts education. She has been on the Board since 2007 and, since 2008,
has served as the vice chair, served on the executive committee and served as
chair of both the Governance Committee and the Community Building Task
Force.
Professionally, Walters serves on the Mecklenburg County Bar’s
Special Committee on Diversity and is a steering committee member of the MCB’s
Charlotte Legal Diversity Clerkship Program. She was appointed to serve as
co-chair of the clerkship program beginning fall 2008 and recently welcomed a
select group of minority law students to Charlotte for their
clerkships.
Walters is a member of Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein’s
Employment & Employee Benefits practice and, since 2006, has served as the
firm’s first director of professional development and diversity. As a result of
her professional leadership on issues related to diversity, Parker Poe was
recognized in 2008 as the first recipient of the Charlotte Chamber’s Innovation
in Diversity Award.
Walters is a graduate of Davidson College and the
University of North Carolina School of Law. In her “spare time,” Walters trains
with Team in Training and participates in bicycling events, triathlons and
marathons to support the Western North Carolina Chapter of the Leukemia &
Lymphoma Society.
Provided by the Young Lawyers Division of the North Carolina Bar
Association in conjunction with the Citizen Lawyer Task Force in recognition of
recipients of the 2009 Citizen Lawyer Awards. The awards were presented on
Friday, June 26, at the NCBA Annual Meeting in Asheville.