About Cristi Grider
Cristi Grider is an attorney in south Tulsa, providing legal services to clients throughout Oklahoma for over 20 years. Her practice focuses primarily on the areas of estate planning and trusts, commercial transactions, real estate, and business entity formation.
CRISTI'S LEGAL CAREER
Education. Cristi earned her law degree with highest honors from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 1999. As a law student, she gained valuable experience serving as an intern at the TU Legal Clinic. She also earned the CALI Excellence for the Future Awards in Property Law II and Native American Natural Resources Law.
Estate Planning. Cristi has served clients with a wide range of planning needs. She has handled modest estates as well as complicated, high-value estates that require tax planning. Cristi has extensive experience preparing wills and many types of trusts. She assists clients with planning for future absence or incapacity, estate tax savings, asset protection, family business succession, and related issues. Cristi has also assisted clients with estate and trust administration and probate matters.
Contracts and Business Formation. Cristi has also handled countless commercial transactions for both private individuals and corporate clients in many industries. These include manufacturing, retail, banking, lending, software, aviation, real estate, energy, and others. She has drafted and negotiated contracts on behalf of some of the world’s largest telecommunications infrastructure and software services providers. She has handled deals of all sizes, ranging from simple contracts involving a couple hundred dollars to highly complex transactions involving sums in excess of $50 Million. Cristi has also assisted clients with the process of forming legal business entities such as corporations, limited liability companies and partnerships in the states of Oklahoma and Delaware.
Real Estate. Cristi also has broad real estate experience. She has handled a variety of real estate matters involving residential and commercial sales and leases, conveyances, title examination, title defects, boundary issues, oil and gas interests, and dispute settlements.
Early Experience. Earlier in her career, Cristi was an associate attorney with the firm of Nash, Cohenour, Kelley & Hunt, P.C., where she gained experience with estate planning and trusts, commercial transactions and real estate matters, including mortgage foreclosures and settlements on behalf of lenders. After forming Cristi A. Grider, PLLC, Cristi has had offices in McLoud, Choctaw, and Tulsa. She has also worked remotely at times, representing clients in Oklahoma while living overseas. Cristi has occasionally worked as an independent subcontractor for other Oklahoma attorneys, as well.
For more information about Cristi’s legal experience and the services she provides, go to our “Services” page.
LIFE OUTSIDE THE LAW PRACTICE
Cristi grew up in central Oklahoma. She spent most of her summer breaks from high school working in a family-owned pipe fittings manufacturing corporation. There she performed a variety of tasks, such as operating turret lathes and other machinery as well as sales, accounting, order processing, hiring, and collections. This early experience developed her business acumen and insight into unique issues in closely held businesses, manufacturing, and oilpatch related industries.
Before becoming a licensed attorney, Cristi earned a B.A. in English with honors at Texas Christian University. She then worked as a literary permissions editor for Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Cristi continued working for several college publishers as an independent contractor throughout law school. Through this experience as a permissions editor, she became familiar with copyright law and developed strong contract interpretation and negotiation skills.
Cristi has been married to her husband Jonathan for over thirty years, and has two children and three four-legged fur babies. Together, they have traveled to many countries and lived in the Middle East. Cristi is an ardent lover of animals and nature in general, and a long-time supporter of various humane organizations. She is also passionate about travel, ancient history, scuba diving, and classical literature.
MEMBERSHIPS AND COMMUNITY SERVICE
Cristi is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, as well as its Real Property Law Section and Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Section. She is also admitted to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. Cristi has volunteered for Blue Star Mothers of America and has served as a volunteer officer for a grass-roots humane society.