Kristine Hayes is a Quality Assurance & Editorial Specialist at Grand River Solutions. Kristine has a background in higher education law, employment law, civil litigation, administrative law, civil rights and Title IX compliance, Title IX and EEO investigations, and Title IX and EEO resolutions encompassing live hearings, administrative outcomes, and informal resolution.

Prior to joining Grand River Solutions, Kristine worked at as a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Education Section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. In that role, she represented Ohio’s public universities and colleges in a variety of litigation matters and served as general counsel to certain assigned community colleges where she routinely provided advice and counsel on Title IX, Title VI, Title VII, ADA, ADEA, and FERPA compliance. She assisted in the review and drafting of various policies and procedures related to equal opportunity mandates and would provide input and advice on investigatory matters when the need arose. Kristine has also worked at Ohio University as a Civil Rights Investigator. In that role, she led investigations related to sex-based misconduct, harassment, and discrimination that implicated Title IX. In addition, she conducted investigations and issued findings in discrimination matters under Title VII, Title VI, ADA, and other federal and state laws and university policies.

Before focusing her work on higher education, Kristine’s legal practice included nonprofit compliance as a Senior Assistant Attorney in the Charitable Law Section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. In that role, she represented the State of Ohio in matters pertaining to the regulation and oversight of charitable trusts, solicitation, and fundraising in Ohio and provided legal guidance in investigations involving the alleged misuse of charitable funds or violations of charitable solicitations laws and litigated those matters when necessary to protect donors and beneficiaries. Kristine has also provided student legal services on two of Ohio’s university campuses, worked at a private law firm in their litigation practice group, and served as an Assistant City Attorney in the Civil Division of the Columbus, Ohio City Attorney’s Office.

Kristine earned a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from The Ohio State University, a Master of Library Science from Kent State University, and her Juris Doctor from the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University. Kristine is admitted to practice in Ohio, the United States District Court in the Southern and Northern Districts of Ohio, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.