Biography
Christina McKinley is an experienced trial lawyer and appellate litigator who continually strives to provide business-focused solutions to her clients and routinely serves as a general adviser, counseling clients on day-to-day legal and business questions involving any number of issues. Her practical, proactive approach to problem-solving allows her to provide solutions to clients in a variety of industries. Her experience spans a wide range of industries, including chemicals, manufacturing, retail, energy, and environmental.
As a litigator who focuses on complex commercial matters, Christina’s trial litigation practice encompasses all phases of litigation, from early alternative dispute resolution through post-trial motions. She has concentrated experience in complex purchase agreement and commercial contracts disputes, environmental statutes, protection of competitive interests (e.g., Lanham Act, unfair competition, tortious interference, trade secret protection, restrictive covenants), technology disputes (e.g., software services and license agreements), and corporate governance. She has tried numerous cases to verdict, including multiple cases involving complex environmental statutes (the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) and the Clean Water Act).
Notwithstanding her significant first-chair trial experience, Christina’s passion lies in the appellate realm. An experienced appellate litigator, Christina has practiced before the United States Supreme Court at every stage of the process, including the briefing and preparation of two merits cases that were argued before the Court. She also has briefed and prepared cases for argument before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Sixth, and District of Columbia Circuits, and she has argued numerous cases before the Pennsylvania intermediate appellate courts. Her appellate practice spans a range of substantive fields, including energy policy, intellectual property, immigration, tax, bankruptcy, and criminal law. In addition, her appellate practice frequently involves challenges to regulatory action and agency decision-making via petitions for review, complex statutory construction issues, and the intersection of regulation and policy.
In 2023, Christina was selected by The Legal Intelligencer as one of only 29 “Lawyers on the Fast Track” statewide in Pennsylvania. This recognition is only given to attorneys under the age of 40 who have demonstrated excellence in four categories: development of the law; advocacy and community contributions; service to the bar; and peer and public recognition.
Before entering private practice, Christina was a law clerk to the Honorable Janice Rogers Brown of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Before that, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Michael S. Kanne of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Christina graduated summa cum laude from The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, where she served as a Production Editor on the Board of the Law Review and on the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court Team. She earned her B.A. in History from Duquesne University, where she also graduated summa cum laude and received the Department’s Joseph R. Morice Award for Excellence.
Outside the Firm
Christina is an avid outdoorsman and enjoys everything related thereto. Christina also is a voracious reader. Her favorite passion, though, is watching and coaching her boys in their numerous sports endeavors.
Christina is an active member of the Italian Sons and Daughters of America and frequently has volunteered her time at the organization’s annual event at Kennywood amusement park, where it hosts intellectually and physically challenged young adults.
Experience
- Successfully represented a defendant in two-week, multiparty CERCLA lawsuit resulting in allocations of past and future response costs.
- Secured resounding victory in defense of financial assurances related to Clean Water Act environmental remedy.
- Successfully secured vacatur of arbitrary and capricious rulemaking by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
- Secured partial reversal of trial court decision related to contractual indemnification provision.
- Secured multimillion-dollar arbitration award for an energy client in proceeding to remedy tortious interference with client’s contracts related to its acquisition of working interests in natural gas wells.
- Following preliminary injunction proceedings, negotiated favorable settlement for a global manufacturing client with former employee and competitor related to violation of restrictive covenants.
- Successfully resolved nine-party commercial contract dispute related to claims of fraud and conspiracy for a manufacturing client, following contentious court proceedings on motions to dismiss.
- Secured favorable result for an environmental client in a breach of contract dispute with a public water utility.
- Successfully represented an international chemical and consumer goods company in indemnification dispute regarding breach of representations and warranties in purchase agreement.
- Negotiated successful result for a global manufacturing company against a software company regarding licensing and support agreements.
- Secured summary judgment and Daubert victories and created new case law in the Fifth Circuit related to Lanham Act’s causation requirement in multimillion-dollar unfair competition suit against a competitor.
News & Views
-
Alert
Regulated Entities: It’s Time to Play Love It or Leave It with Federal Regulations
Government Contracts -
Media Coverage
VA Contract Is Canceled and Reinstated; EO May Slow Rules
Report on Medicare Compliance -
Alert
Deregulation of the Administrative State: Opportunities and Risks Presented by Recent Executive Order
Business Litigation -
Speaking Engagement
Noteworthy Speaking Engagements
-
Article
Noteworthy Publications
Various Publications -
Press Release
Blank Rome Welcomes Accomplished Trial Lawyer Christina Manfredi McKinley as Partner in Pittsburgh
Recognitions
- 2023, “Lawyers on the Fast Track” in Pennsylvania, listed in The Legal Intelligencer
- 2024–2025, Commercial Litigation, listed in The Best Lawyers in America©
- 2017–2020, and 2022–2024, Pennsylvania “Rising Star” in Business Litigation, listed in Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters)
Affiliations
Memberships
- Pennsylvania Bar Association
- Allegheny County Bar Association
- Association for Corporate Growth Pittsburgh
- Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Christina currently serves on the Local Rules Advisory Committee for the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, as the co-chair of the Civil Rules subcommittee. She also serves on the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Appellate Advocacy Committee and the PA Chamber of Business and Industry’s Legal Policy Council. In the community, Christina serves on the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth’s Future Corporate Leaders Board and on its Women’s Executive Committee. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Eastern Great Lakes Region.
Since beginning private practice, Christina has maintained a robust pro bono practice in which she has devoted hundreds of hours to indigent defendants. She also has worked to improve the legal profession and her community through her advocacy for civil rights in areas such as voting, marriage equality, education, immigration, prisoner litigation, and veterans’ benefits. Christina is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association and its Women in the Law Division.
Credentials
Admissions
- Pennsylvania
- Supreme Court of the United States
- United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- U.S. District Court - Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- New York
- U.S. District Court - Eastern District of Wisconsin
- U.S. District Court - Middle District of Pennsylvania
- U.S. District Court - Northern District of Ohio
- U.S. District Court - Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court - Western District of Pennsylvania
- United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Education
- Duquesne University, BA, summa cum laude
- The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, JD, summa cum laude
