Crista Cuccaro joined the School of Government's law and finance division in June 2022. She teaches and advises on procurement, contracting, property disposal, and ethics and conflicts of interest related to contracting. Cuccaro is the liaison for the North Carolina Association of Governmental Purchasing and the North Carolina Minority/Women Business Enterprise Coordinators’ Network.
In 2019, she became a Local Government Fellow and was one of the first municipal attorneys in North Carolina to be recognized as such by the International Municipal Lawyers Association. Prior to joining the School, Cuccaro was a senior assistant city attorney for the City of Durham, where she advised on community development, municipal finance and procurement, state legislative issues, economic development, and more. Before practicing law in North Carolina, she was a staff attorney in Knoxville, Tennessee. In Tennessee, her practice included land use and redevelopment, and she served as vice president of the Tennessee Municipal Attorneys Association. Cuccaro also taught Contract Drafting as an adjunct instructor at the University of Tennessee School of Law.
She earned her B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina and her J.D. degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law. Cuccaro is a member of the North Carolina and Tennessee State Bars.
