Christina M. Vaughn

Christina Vaughn is a trial lawyer who has successfully represented both plaintiffs and defendants in state, federal and tribal courts. Her cases have run the gamut of commercial litigation, including disputes involving breach of contract, Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) issues, business torts, oil and gas, environmental, class actions, antitrust, insurance, intellectual property, and employment.

Christina holds a certificate in Native American Law from the University of Tulsa College of Law and dedicates a substantial portion of her practice to Native American law. She is licensed to practice in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma; practices in Court of Indian Offenses; and assists clients with tribal law and federal Indian law issues. As part of Christina’s Native American law practice, she has represented clients with a variety of issues, including gaming, self-governance and self-determination, negotiation and amendments of compacts and funding agreements, trust acquisitions, trust litigation in both federal district court and the Court of Federal Claims, obtaining easements on trust and restricted lands, environmental regulation and enforcement on trust land, and appellate work before the Interior Board of Indian Appeals.

Christina’s achievements have earned her inclusion in Oklahoma Super Lawyers’ list of “Oklahoma Rising Stars” (civil litigation defense, environmental litigation, Native American law), which recognizes the state’s top up-and-coming attorneys. In 2012, the Tulsa County Bar Association honored Christina with its Outstanding Young Lawyer Award and Outstanding Community Service Award. Tulsa Business & Legal News named her to its 2013 class of The Tulsa 40, honoring young professionals who've made a positive impact on the business and civic communities before the age of 40.

Christina earned her bachelor’s degree in international business from Northeastern State University, summa cum laude, and her Juris Doctor, with highest honors, from the University of Tulsa College of Law. While in law school, Christina served as a judicial intern for the Honorable Dana L. Rasure of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.

• Assisted oil and gas company with multiple aspects of multi-state linear pipeline project, including NEPA compliance, and obtaining consents to survey and easements through trust and restricted lands.
• Assisted health system with internal investigation regarding data loss and potential release of protected health information.
• Obtained dismissal of putative class action against health system client involving various issues, including billing, PHI, security, privacy and data loss.
• Obtained dismissal of enforcement action by ODEQ against client related to alleged illegal dumping on Indian trust land.
• Assisted pipeline company with development of records management program.
• Represented small business in resisting the issuance of a Writ of Prohibition by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
• Assisted clients as coordinating counsel for 44-member group of potentially responsible parties (PRPs) in CERCLA (Superfund) action in Oklahoma City, including an appeal before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Assisted client in obtaining confidential settlement on behalf of individual plaintiff alleging co-authorship and joint ownership in copyrightable computer software and for breach of fiduciary duties and other business torts arisnig from alleged unfulfilled promises to share proceeds upon sale of controlling interest in computer software company.
• Successfully represented the economic sub-division of an Oklahoma Indian nation in suits in tribal and federal court arising out of alleged fraud, breaches of gaming development agreements, and noncompliance with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
• Assisted a tribal corporation in obtaining a multimillion dollar settlement in a dispute involving funds loaned for the development of a gaming project.