Elise C. Funke graduated with honors from Columbia Law School in 2017 and began her practice as a general litigator at a large, corporate law firm in New York City, where she focused on white collar criminal defense; SEC and DOJ investigations; international arbitration; and pro bono bail reform, parole, clemency, and civil rights matters. Prior to joining Kennedy, Hernandez & Harrison, Ms. Funke worked as a public defender and prisoners’ civil rights attorney in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
For over ten years, Ms. Funke consistently has been involved in civil rights advocacy, criminal defense work, and restorative justice mediation. She has worked for six different public defenders’ offices in three states. Additionally, she assisted five individuals facing potential life sentences in successfully securing parole. Ms. Funke has received multiple awards for her criminal, post-conviction, and restorative justice work. As a restorative justice mediator, she facilitated over 50 restorative family-group conferences for at-risk and criminally involved youth in Minneapolis, Minnesota and successfully diverted them from the criminal justice system. She has also litigated federal and state civil rights cases in New York and New Mexico concerning cruel and unusual punishment in prisons, unconstitutional conditions of confinement, police brutality, malicious prosecution, due process violations, false arrest, and unlawful retaliation.
Ms. Funke’s current practice focuses on civil rights litigation, criminal defense, tort claims, and both civil and criminal appellate proceedings.
