Christina Phillips, Esq.

Biography

Christina Phillips is not easily rattled, nor is she someone insurers can afford to underestimate. There is a steadiness to the way she practices law. She prepares carefully, holds her ground, and is comfortable seeing difficult insurance disputes through trial and appeal. Her experience in first-party property insurance spans more than 20 years, beginning in 2003 when she worked as a law clerk at a firm dedicated to this area of practice.

Based in Merlin Law Group’s Chicago office, Christina represents commercial and residential policyholders throughout the Midwest. Licensed in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado, and the District of Columbia, her reach extends across multiple jurisdictions. Christina’s practice includes technically demanding disputes over coverage, causation, and valuation. Over the years, she has gained detailed knowledge of roofing systems, including EPDM membranes, cedar shakes, and Ludowici tile. She uses that knowledge to aid her clients in determining whether an insurer’s repair or replacement position is appropriate. Christina’s practice also includes representing individuals and corporations in broker/agent negligence matters.

Christina stays closely involved in the opening stages of a matter through trial or binding arbitration. She has obtained favorable rulings for clients in more than 30 separate binding arbitrations against State Farm and has tried cases to favorable verdicts across the United States. In the Geneva Landings matter, she represented a Wisconsin condominium association after the insurer offered no payment. Christina delivered the closing argument against a defense team from two law firms, and the jury returned a verdict for the policyholder.

Her appellate work has also influenced Illinois insurance law. In Zhao v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., Christina obtained judgment on the pleadings compelling appraisal and successfully defended that result on appeal. In May 2025, the Illinois Appellate Court issued the state’s first published appellate decision addressing the scope of appraisal and held that certain causation questions necessarily fall within the appraisal process.

Christina’s leadership extends beyond her own cases. A former chair of the American Bar Association TIPS Property Insurance Law Committee, she regularly writes and speaks about first-party insurance issues and mentors younger attorneys at Merlin Law Group. She chose policyholder work because it gives her the opportunity to help people while doing the detailed factual and legal analysis she enjoys. For Christina, that is the point of the work: ensuring policyholders receive the protection they were promised.