Jim Richards

Jim Richards, a Cornerstone Partner, joined the firm in 2005 after serving in both the executive and legislative branches of the federal government. Since joining the Cornerstone team, Jim has concentrated his practice on securing numerous successes for clients in the spheres of appropriations, energy, environment, higher education, and agriculture policy amongst others. Before leaving Capitol Hill, Jim served as the appropriations associate staff for succeeding Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA and Related Agencies Chairmen, Congressmen Henry Bonilla and Joe Skeen. Post his work for the Chairmen, Jim accepted an appointment as the Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations at the United States Department of Agriculture.In this role, he was responsible for managing the Department’s relations with Federal, State and Local governments to ensure USDA programs, policies and procedures were communicated to the appropriate agencies, including Congress. Jim also served as Chief of Staff to Congressman Steve Pearce. His responsibilities included oversight and direction of congressional staff, management of congressional budget as well as general oversight and direction of the legislative, political and campaign activities of the Congressman’s Washington and New Mexico operations. Prior to his government service, Jim was the General Manager of a multi-million dollar wholesale and retail business in New Mexico and a small business owner in Arizona.He also served as an interrogator, linguist and intelligence specialist on active duty in the U.S. Army with extensive experience throughout Southwest Asia. While in the Army, he graduated as Distinguished Honor Graduate of the Defense Language Institute and Foreign Language Center’s Modern Standard Arabic and Egyptian Dialect courses. Jim grew up on his family’s fifth generation cattle ranch in Southwest New Mexico and resides in McLean, VA with his wife Patty and their three wonderful children, Pague Augusta, Peyton Annabel and James Damon III.