Kristine Custodio Suero

Kristine Custodio Suero is an award-winning legal professional and a highly sought-after speaker in her profession inspiring legal professionals to achieve authentic, purpose-driven careers and lives. A true servant leader, she has led the San Diego Paralegal Association and California Alliance of Paralegal Associations as President.

Kristine earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Development from California State University at Long Beach where she was on the Dean’s Honor List. She completed her paralegal studies at UCSD in 2004, became a Certified Paralegal in 2006, and received her Advanced Certified Paralegal (ACP) designation in Discovery (2009), Trial Practice (2010), and e-discovery (2016). Further, in 2006 she obtained her Human Resource Management certificate from UCSD. Kristine also served as an administrator for her family’s adult residential facility for developmentally disabled adults from 1998 to 2015. Kristine completed the 2021 International Leadership Association Leadership Education Academy. In January 2023, Kristine earned her Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace certificate from the University of South Florida. She is currently a Senior Paralegal/Business Development Director for Butterfield Schechter LLP specializing in ERISA/employee benefits law, business law and civil litigation.

Kristine is also currently a member of the University of San Diego School of Law Paralegal Program’s Advisory Board and is also Adjunct Faculty teaching Introduction to Law and Ethics. Kristine serves as the National Association of Legal Assistants Paralegals (NALA) Liaison for the San Diego Paralegal Association (and Past President) as well as the Board Advisor Emeritus and Past President of the California Alliance of Paralegal Associations. She is the Chair of the NALA Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee and a past member of the NALA Professional Development Committee, focusing on the leadership development program. In July 2009, Kristine was appointed by the President of NALA for a one‐year term as the ethics chair for NALA’s Professional Development Committee and contributed to a bi‐monthly ethics column for the NALA publication, Facts & Findings. She was a runner up for the 2008 LAT Paralegal of the Year and, in 2009, was a finalist for the San Diego Daily Transcript’s “Top Paralegal” award. On February 15, 2011, Kristine was inducted into Lambda Epsilon Chi, the National Honor Society in Paralegal/Legal Assistant Studies University of California San Diego Chapter. In 2020, Kristine was selected as the California Paralegal of the Year, awarded by the California Alliance of Paralegal Associations and nominated by the San Diego Paralegal Association. In October of 2021, Kristine was appointed to the Center for Judicial Education and Research Advisory Committee by former California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye.

She is most passionate about the innovation economy and dedicates her time to inclusive economic development projects, including employee ownership, and endeavoring to advance women in business, especially in non-traditional roles and industries such as STEAM and construction. Kristine was reappointed by the Mayor of San Diego as a Commissioner and served as the past Chair of the City of San Diego Citizens’ Equal Opportunity Commission advocating for supplier diversity in contracting with the City of San Diego and bridging the rich cultural landscape of her beloved city with opportunities of economic impact to build a vibrant place to live, work and play.