Cristina Finch
Senior Counsel
Cristina Finch joined the Human Rights Campaign as senior counsel in 2005. She provides legal advice on a variety of issues, including hate crimes, judicial nominations, immigration, military, work/family legislation, and the separation of church and state.
As an expert on anti-LGBT violence, Ms. Finch serves on the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights hate crimes task force and was appointed a single-issue negotiator for campus hate crimes issues for the Department of Education negotiated rulemaking on the Higher Education Opportunity Act. Ms. Finch has appeared on National Public Radio, CNN radio, CBS radio and has been quoted by the Associated Press, San Diego Union-Tribune, Casper Star-Tribune, Medill, and numerous other local and LGBT news outlets.
She is the co-creator of HRC ’s "Equality in the Courts" website. The website is designed to educate the LGBT community about the importance of the federal judiciary. She has also lectured on LGBT legal issues before the World Bank, the FBI and at the American University, Washington College of Law.
While in law school Ms. Finch interned with the United States Department of State in Lilongwe, Malawi and with Amnesty International. Ms. Finch has also volunteered with the Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (ProBar) in Harlingen, TX and as a law fellow for Legal Aid of Northern Virginia.
Before joining HRC, Ms. Finch served as legislative counsel to Rep. Alcee L. Hastings, D-Fla., and as house legal counsel to the Congress of the Republic of Palau. She also practiced contract and tort law with the law firm of Thiemann, Aitken & Vohra in Alexandria, Va. Prior to attending law school, Finch worked for Rep. Jim Barcia, D-Mich. She received her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan and her law degree from George Mason University School of Law.