He was then retained by the LDS Church in 1879 to represent its interests in the settling of Brigham Young's estate.

In 1889, Richards sought to convince U.S. President Benjamin Harrison and James G. Blaine to appoint officers in Utah Territory who were non-vindictive towards the Mormons.

[2] Richards formed a law firm with Rufus K. Williams, who had been chief justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court, in 1879.

They served as the primary legal counsel that sought to prevent the removal of suffrage from the women of Utah Territory in 1880.

[5] Among other cases, Richards was the legal counsel for Lorenzo Snow in his case before the United States Supreme Court,[6] in which a complex scheme was overturned which would have given polygamous Mormon men essentially life sentences for unlawful cohabitation under the Edmunds Act.