Alison R. Christian

About Alison R. Christian

While a shareholder at Christian Dichter & Sluga, P.C, I was an AV-rated attorney with a practice dedicated to insurance coverage and insurance litigation matters in Arizona and New Mexico. I then managed bad faith litigation against Liberty Mutual and its affiliates in the United States as part of the home office corporate litigation team. I am currently Vice President in the Corporate Legal Department of Meritage Homes and report directly to the GC. I am responsible for protecting the company in all aspects of risk management, overseeing negotiation of 1k+ contracts each month, resolving employment disputes, procuring all lines of insurance for the enterprise, managing lien litigation and all first party insurance claims, managing commercial litigation for three Divisions, handling OSHA investigations, and supervising 6 direct reports.In 2012, I co-founded a business development program to empower women lawyers called “Ladder The program is unique in both structure and content, and runs year-long with monthly sessions dedicated to instruction in three key areas: leadership, business development, and mentoring. I partnered with the prestigious Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel in 2016 to launch FDCC Ladder Down programs in San Francisco, Seattle, and Cleveland in addition to the long-standing program in Phoenix. In honor of the program\'s 10th anniversary, we launched the first (entirely virtual) national Ladder Down program in March 2022. The national program is now in its third year and thriving! I am active in the local and national defense communities. I served on the Arizona Association of Defense Counsel Board of Directors from 20••••21. I am a Past President of the AADC, the AADC YLD, and the Phi Beta Kappa Phoenix Chapter. I was elected to the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel\'s Board of Directors in August 2021 and served as a Director until 2024.While in private practice, I was ranked by Chambers USA in the Band 2 category for Insurance Law in Arizona, and by Best Lawyers in the Arizona Insurance Litigation category. In 2019 I was recognized by Arizona Business Magazine as one of the top five insurance lawyers in Arizona (and the only woman in the category). I was listed as a Southwest SuperLawyer in Insurance Coverage from 20••••22. I was recognized by Arizona Business Magazine as one of the most influential women in Arizona business, as the youngest of five honorees in the 2014 \"Generation Next\"​ category. In 2016, I was included among the Top 10 Most Influential Millennials in Arizona.

Experience

1. Vice President Corporate Legal

   Meritage Homes

   Jul 2024 — Present · Scottsdale, AZ, US

   Oversee negotiation of 10k+ complex national service agreements annually with contractors, professional consultants, material suppliers, and distributors for the 5th largest residential homebuilder in the country -Advise enterprise on all aspects of risk mitigation and management strategies to maintain compliance throughout the country-Manage enterprise-wide litigation relating to lien disputes -Protect the enterprise\'s interest in civil litigation through strategic coordination with outside counsel -Strategize and partner with people operations\' team leaders for alignment on employment matters, including multi-state RIFs and OWBPA notices, performance management processes, severance and separation agreements, creation of multi-state employee handbook, coordination of FMLA, ADA, and other protected leave requests-Coordinate placement of all P&C and FINPRO policies through partnership with domestic and international brokers and underwriters -Supervise team of experienced contract paralegals to support efficient processing of 1k+ contracts a month-Report directly to the General Counsel and provide weekly deliverables for Executive Leadership Team of a publicly traded company-Negotiate national exclusivity and incentive agreements with vendors and distributors in partnership with purchasing teams -Oversee defense of OSHA investigations and coordinate directly with inspectors -Present to national operations teams and Division leaders on best practices for risk mitigation-Project leader for Legal Department implementation of AI tools in coordination with CISO-Implement and oversee Risk Management and Legal Department budgets -Implement Legal Department use of legal interns and mentor 2-5 legal interns each semester -Identify and implement operational efficiencies for Legal Department document management system to ensure business continuity -Serve as Corporate Sponsor for Employee Resource Group Family.Built.Better

Education

• University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law

  J.D., Law

  2004 — 2007

• Santa Clara University

  B.A., English

  2000 — 2004

Skills

• Insurance Coverage Disputes
• Legal Writing
• Litigation
• Public Speaking
• Bad Faith
• Legal Research
• Trials
• Criminal Law
• Commercial Litigation
• Criminal Defense
• Trial Practice
• Insurance Bad-Faith Litigation
• Insurance Law
• Insurance
• Insurance Coverage Litigation
• Civil Litigation
• Appeals
• Litigation Management