Kristine Zayko

Kristine M. Zayko concentrates her practice on advising public and private educational institutions in a wide array of matters to support their educational missions. Serving for twenty years as in-house counsel for a major, public research institution.

Kristine has significant experience working with governing boards, senior leaders, academic administrators, and multi-constituent academic governance groups on challenging legal and policy issues, including the following :

• Faculty employment and tenure matters
• Student and Greek Life Issues
• Americans with Disabilities Act/Section 504 & Fair Housing Act
• Threat assessment teams
• Youth protection policies
• Public records requests

Kristine also has extensive experience with agency proceedings, including U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and state civil rights agencies.

Before joining Husch Blackwell, Kristine served as in-house counsel at Michigan State University where she was Deputy General Counsel for ten years and most recently Acting Vice President for Legal Affairs & General Counsel.

Prior to working in higher education, Kristine was a labor and employment attorney in private practice in Lansing, Michigan and with an AmLaw 100 firm in Chicago, Illinois.

Education :

• J.D., University of Michigan
• B.A., Michigan State University

Admissions :

• Illinois
• Michigan
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
• U.S. District Court, Western District of Michigan

Professional Associations and Memberships :

• National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA)
• NACUA Committee on Program for the Annual Conference, Member, 2011-2014