Elise is a founding partner of Pinkham Busny. She has over 25 years of substantial experience in all areas of commercial law, with particular emphasis on employment law and business disputes. She represents privately and publicly held companies, financial institutions, real estate owners and developers, start-ups, individuals and educational institutions. In the employment area, Elise regularly represents clients before state and federal administrative agencies and in court cases involving non-competition and non-solicitation agreements, discrimination, wrongful termination, retaliation, severance agreements and non-payment of wages. She also counsels companies on a daily basis in the areas of hiring, firing, personnel policies and statutory compliance. She drafts employee handbooks, offer letters, employment agreements, severance agreements, non-competition, non-solicitation and confidentiality agreements. Elise also provides training to companies in the areas of sexual harassment prevention and diversity.  Elise also represents students falsely accused of sexual misconduct under Title IX and otherwise through school disciplinary processes. She has also investigated claims of workplace misconduct, including sexual harassment.

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Elise’s experience with business disputes is equally broad. She has prosecuted and defended complex contract claims, real estate development disputes and creditor claims in bankruptcy court. She has also successfully defended against consumer claims brought against national mortgage lenders, on both class and individual bases, as well as lender liability and related claims brought against national financial institutions.

 

Before co-founding Pinkham Busny, Elise was a member of the litigation department at Brown Rudnick LLP for 15 years, where, among other things, she chaired the firm’s pro bono efforts in representing individuals in unemployment insurance appeals in Boston and New York. Upon graduation from law school, Elise clerked for the Honorable Gerald Gillerman of the Massachusetts Appeals Court.

APPEARANCES, SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS AND PUBLICATIONS

• ABC News’ Good Morning America

• CBS News’ The Early Show

• Fox News Channel

• National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition with Scott Simon

• “Case Summaries,” quarterly column, Employment Relations Law Journal, 2008, 2009

• “Hiring, Firing and Performance Reviews,” Building Owners and Managers Association, Greater Boston Real Estate Board, November 14, 2007.

•  Instructor for First Year Writing Program, Boston University School of Law, 1999-2000.

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EDUCATION

• Boston University School of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, 1994

• Editor, Annual Review of Banking Law

• University of Michigan, B.A., magna cum laude, 1990

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AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

• 2023 Best Lawyers in America – Employment Law

• Massachusetts Super Lawyer 2004, 2012-2022

• Top 50 2020 Women Massachusetts Super Lawyer

• Top Women of Law, Lawyers Weekly, 2020

• The American Registry, America’s Most Honored Professional, 2018, 2020

• Top Woman Attorneys in Massachusetts 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

• Top Attorney in Massachusetts 2012, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2020

• Top Attorney in New England 2012, 2013, 2017, 2018

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BAR ADMISSIONS

• Member, Massachusetts and Connecticut Bars

• Admitted, United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, United States Supreme Court

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COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

• Chair, Governance Committee, JCRC

• 2008-2014 Budget and Administration Committee, Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston

• Council Member, JCRC

• Bet Tzedek Advisory Committee, JF&CS

• 2008 Acharai Leadership Program, Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston

• 2010 Co-Chair, Leadership Phone-a-thons, Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston

• 2007, Co-Chair, Lawyers and Accountants Dinner, Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston

• Children’s Hospital League, past member of the Board

• Panelist: Technology, Crime and the Workplace: New Developments and Strategies at the Boston Bar Association on Monday, December 10.

• 2010-2011 Lawyer’s Team co-chair, Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston.