Elisabeth Centeno Lopez
Managing Attorney
Elisabeth Centeno Lopez joined KIND in 2017 as Managing Attorney for KIND’s Baltimore Office. With years of experience managing a robust legal services program for unaccompanied children (UC) in Maryland, she now serves as Managing Attorney for KIND’s new Orlando field office and is excited to help advance KIND’s mission in Florida. A first-generation immigrant, Elisabeth has long sought ways to advance the rights of immigrants, refugees, and children. As an undergraduate at Stanford University, Elisabeth worked as a Spanish-language interpreter and research assistant with Stanford Law School’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic and interned with Public Counsel’s Children’s Rights Project and Adoption Project. Prior to law school, Elisabeth worked for Human Rights First (HRF) in New York City as a John W. Gardner Public Service Fellow, supporting HRF’s Asylum Representation Program and Never Torture campaign. While at Yale Law School, Elisabeth served as a student director and intern with the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization’s Immigration Legal Services Clinic and Domestic Violence Clinic, representing clients in asylum, VAWA, and family law matters. After graduating, she practiced immigration law as a firm-sponsored staff attorney/fellow with the Immigration Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services. Thereafter, Elisabeth was a litigation associate (and KIND pro bono attorney) for several years at Ropes & Gray LLP before departing the firm to clerk for The Honorable Stephanie A. Gallagher of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. Since joining KIND, Elisabeth has taught advanced lawyering skills as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carrey School of Law. Elisabeth earned her dual B.A. degrees in International Relations and Art History at Stanford University and her J.D. at Yale Law School. She is admitted to practice law in California and the District of Columbia.
