About Ellen
Posted on: December 28, 2016
Ellen’s practice is both personal and collaborative one; she works individually with each client to accomplish that client’s goals. The first hour of consult with any potential client is always free-of-charge. In that first hour, her potential client can ascertain whether Ellen would bring the right demeanor and expertise to the job, and Ellen can assess whether she has the skills and expertise to provide her prospective client with the necessary legal service. If both Ellen and the client agree that they have the right match, then a client-attorney relationship is established. Ellen is honest, fair, reliable and absolutely committed to achieving an excellent outcome for all of her clients.
Before establishing her solo practice, Ellen served as President of a Texas trust company specializing in charitable trust administration and as Associate Trust Counsel for a large charitable foundation in Dallas. She also served as an associate in the tax section of a large Washington, D.C. based law firm in order to develop an expertise in the law of tax-exempt organizations. Ellen attended Duke University as an Angier Biddle Duke Memorial Scholar and was graduated magna cum laude from Duke with an A.B. in Public Policy Studies. She received her law degree, with honors, from University of Texas School of Law. Ellen has an “AV” rating from Martindale Hubbell and is a fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation.
Ellen is passionate about the nonprofit sector and has a strong track record of serving her community. She currently serves as director and former President of the Catholic Bar Association (the national association of Catholic attorneys), Bishop Lynch High School, Oak Cliff Cemetery, and Sacred Heart Educational Services, Inc. Ellen is a former director and past president of the St. Thomas More Society in Dallas (the Catholic lawyers’ guild). Her other previous directorships include: St. Philip’s School and Community Center, Turtle Creek Manor, and the Dallas Chapter of the National Committee on Planned Giving.
Ellen’s commitment to the nonprofit sector is borne of her conviction that local communities can and should take care of their most needy, and was inspired by her work at a soup kitchen during her college years in Durham, North Carolina. After college, she lived and worked at a settlement house in San Antonio, in a volunteer service internship sponsored by the Episcopal Church. Later, Ellen lived in Seoul, Korea as Henry Luce Scholar, where she investigated the nonprofit delivery of social services.
A Dallas native, Ellen has been married to Jim for 27 years and they have four children, ranging in age from 15 to 24. Jim, a tinkerer and entrepreneur, is currently building a maple sugaring operation on his family’s property in Vermont; be on the lookout for Thresher Hill Maple Products, coming soon to a Dallas vendor near you! They live in the Forest Hillcrest neighborhood in Dallas, near the Jewish Community Center and a a short drive from their shared office. Ellen is a graduate of Highland Park High School and her children attend or have attended Providence Christian School of Texas, Christ the King School, Bishop Lynch High School, and Cistercian Preparatory School. Ellen has been an active volunteer with those schools, boy scouts, and a myriad of other organizations and activities in support of her children.
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