Associate Director of Pro Bono & Programs
etincher@chicagobarfoundation.org
312.554.1207

Elise Tincher is the CBF’s Associate Director of Pro Bono & Programs. Elise leads the CBF’s advocacy efforts with the courts for policies promoting access to justice, including policies that make the courts and administrative agencies more user friendly for people without lawyers. She also oversees the Cook County Legal Aid for Housing & Debt (CCLAHD) program and leads the CBF pro bono efforts, working with lawyers, firms, corporations, the courts, and pro bono and legal aid organizations to maximize the impact of pro bono work.

Prior to joining the CBF, Elise was Pro Bono Counsel at Kirkland & Ellis LLP where she managed the pro bono program in Kirkland’s Chicago and California offices. Prior to that, Elise began her legal career as a Staff Attorney at Legal Aid Chicago (f/k/a the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, or LAF), working first in the Family Law Group with a focus on representing domestic violence survivors, and then in the Consumer Practice Group during the height of the mortgage foreclosure crisis. Prior to her legal career, Elise lived in California and worked at Kaiser Permanente and at a local family-owned bakery.

Elise received her law degree from the University of Wisconsin in 2007. During law school, she participated in the Legal Assistance for Institutionalized Persons clinic and the Neighborhood Law Clinic. She received a B.A. in English and French from the College of Wooster in 2001.

Elise was born in Chicago but grew up in California and returned to settle in Chicago in 2007. She currently lives in the Logan Square neighborhood with her husband and son.