Virginia Lawyers Weekly has selected McGuireWoods partner Michele McKinnon for its annual “Leaders in the Law” list, honoring prominent lawyers across the state for significant accomplishments changing the law, serving the community and improving Virginia’s justice system. The honorees are profiled in a special Virginia Lawyers Weekly supplement.
McKinnon is a member of McGuireWoods’ nationally recognized Private Wealth Services Group and leads the firm’s Nonprofit Industry Team, which hosts annual seminars in Virginia and North Carolina that draw hundreds of nonprofit leaders to learn about legal developments affecting the nonprofit sector. She represents public charities, major colleges and universities, large private foundations, and charitable trusts in tax and governance matters. In addition, she counsels clients on structuring planned gifts to charitable organizations and handles estate administration, fiduciary litigation and risk management for corporate trust departments.
McKinnon advises foundations on investments that impact healthcare, housing and access to justice. She serves on the board and is the immediate past chair of the Richmond Memorial Health Foundation, which explores investments that address social, economic and structural conditions that contribute to poor health outcomes in the community.
McKinnon is a fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and has served as the organization’s Virginia state chair. She has earned nationwide rankings in Chambers and Partners’ prestigious High Net Worth Guide since its debut in 2016. Earlier this year, The National Law Journal named McKinnon a Trusts and Estates Trailblazer, affirming her leadership in trusts and estates law.
Virginia Lawyers Weekly’s 2017 “Leaders in the Law” class was honored at an Oct. 26 reception at the John Marshall Hotel in Richmond.