Professor Porter has taught widely at law schools throughout the Midwest and overseas; she is an authority on real estate and probate matters.Professor Porter earned her J.D. from Drake University Law School, where she was an NAACP Earl Warren Scholar and a Sadie T.M. Alexander Law Scholar. Before arriving at Western State, she was on the faculty of the Southern Illinois University School of Law and has had extensive law faculty experience in the Midwest and in China.
Professor Porter's previous professional experiences included positions in both government and private sector settings. She was the principal of the Law Offices of Tracie R. Porter, LLC, a practice focused on diverse areas of real estate and business law, including transactional and litigation cases, corporate law, and probate proceedings. Before starting her own law firm, she was a litigator with the United States Department of Labor in Chicago and an associate with the Chicago firms Barnes & Thornburg and Brown Udell & Pomerantz.
Professor Porter has held numerous leadership positions in national and local bar associations, including the ABA Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law and the Young Lawyers Division, the Cook County Bar Association of Chicago, the Chicago Bar Association, the Black Women Lawyers Association of Chicago, the Illinois State Bar Association’s Real Estate Law Section Council, and the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association.
Courses taught: Estates, Property