Michael Ellement believes in standing up for workers who are mistreated, and defending their right to organize for change in the workplace.
Ellement represents workers and their unions in a variety of matters. He is an experienced litigator who has represented clients at arbitration, before administrative agencies, at trial, and on appeal. He has served as litigation counsel in courts across the country, often in complex disputes.
In 2023, Ellement served as lead trial counsel in Doe v. DC, a sexual harassment case that resulted in one of the largest jury verdicts of its kind against the District of Columbia. He has also achieved significant victories in arbitration and administrative hearings, recovering significant awards on behalf of workers.
At the appellate level, Ellement has served as counsel in cases in the majority of the federal circuits and as amicus counsel in the U.S. Supreme Court. He has argued before the 2nd, 5th, and D.C. Circuits.
Ellement often represents clients in negotiating settlement agreements prior to litigation, including in cases involving unlawful discrimination, harassment, and pay inequity. Ellement has represented employees in a variety of fields and from all walks of life, including baristas, fast food workers, agricultural workers, financial services employees, doctors, executives, and government whistleblowers.
Ellement has particularly significant experience representing professors and other employees at academic institutions. For example, in 2018 he served as trial counsel in Hanna v. American University, an age discrimination suit brought on behalf of a college professor denied tenure, which resulted in a $1.3 million verdict.
Ellement also regularly advises and litigates cases on behalf of unions. He has represented unions in collective bargaining negotiations and in high stakes cases to enforce contractual rights.
Prior to joining James & Hoffman, Ellement was an Associate at Bernabei & Kabat, PLLC where he represented clients in employment and civil rights matters. Before that, he served as an attorney with the National Labor Relations Board in the Office of General Counsel where he focused on trial and appellate litigation. Directly following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, in New Orleans.
Ellement is an accomplished author and legal scholar in the areas of labor and employment law, constitutional law, election law, and civil rights litigation. His work has appeared in a number of prominent legal journals, and has been cited in journal articles, policy papers, legal briefs, and textbooks. In 2024 and 2025, Lawdragon named Ellement as a future leader of the law as part of its 500 X – The Next Generation list.
Ellement was born in Buffalo, NY. He received his J.D. from the Catholic University of America, where he was a member of the school’s Law Review and its Trial and Moot Court teams. He is also a graduate of Siena College, where he was awarded Siena’s two highest student honors after working to make Siena one of the first Fair Trade colleges in the country.
