Christina Hayes
Christina is a native of Kinston, North Carolina. She received her B.A. from North Carolina State University in 2005, and her J.D. from Florida Coastal School of Law in 2009. She became a member of the North Carolina Bar in 2009. In 2010, after spending time as a volunteer for Legal Aid of North Carolina, Christina joined the North Carolina Department of Justice, working in the Attorney General’s Officein the Tort Claims Section and Education Section.
Christina has extensive experience representing the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and local boards of education, The University of North Carolina, its constituent institutions and affiliates, and other departments, institutions and agencies of the State in matters arising under the State Tort Claims Act. As a Special Deputy Attorney General, Christina represented the local boards of education and certain of their employees named in legal actions related to the operation of school buses and school transportation service vehicles brought pursuant to the Tort Claims Act and Defense of State Employees Act. Christina has litigated in the North Carolina Industrial Commission, the Office of Administrative Hearings, and in state and federal courts.
In 2020, Christina took on the role of Appeals Referee with the North Carolina Department of Commerce, Division of Employment Security, conducting quasi-judicial evidentiary hearings of contested claims for unemployment benefits, fraud, and relief of benefit charges. She transitioned to private practice in 2021, joining United Title Company as a Title Insurance Attorney. Christina has been a licensed title insurance underwriter since 2005 and worked as a licensed underwriter for Investors Title Insurance Company prior to attending law school.
Christina joined Schwartz Law in December of 2023 and is a member of the North Carolina Council of School Attorneys, the National Council of School Attorneys, the National School Attorneys Association, and the Education Law and Real Property Sections of the North Carolina Bar Association.