Michael P. Ellement

Michael Ellement believes in standing up for workers who are mistreated, and defending their right to organize for change in the workplace.

Michael 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.

In 2023, Mr. 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 also has extensive experience advising clients and negotiating settlement agreements prior to litigation, including in cases involving unlawful discrimination, harassment, and pay inequity. He has represented employees in a variety of fields, including college professors in tenure disputes and government whistleblowers who have been retaliated against.

Mr. Ellement also regularly advises and litigates cases on behalf of unions. He has represented unions in high stakes cases to enforce collective bargaining rights, and has advised active union organizing campaigns.

Prior to joining James & Hoffman, Mr. 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.

Mr. 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.

Mr. 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.

Representative matters:

• Served as lead trial counsel representing a woman who was sexually harassed and assaulted at work. The case resulted in one of the largest jury verdicts against the District of Columbia in a sexual harassment case. Doe v. DC (DDC 2023).
• Represented workers in securing a preliminary injunction requiring certain McDonald’s restaurants to improve their COVID-19 safety measures under the public nuisance doctrine. Massey v. McDonald’s (Ill. Cir. Ct. 2020).
• Represented union in multiple grievance arbitrations, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars paid in backpay to teachers.
• Represented teacher’s union in obtaining order that school district must bargain over health and safety matters during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Represented hundreds of federal and state government employees in several collective action cases alleging violations of overtime pay requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act, including successfully negotiating settlements.
• Served as trial counsel to college professor age discrimination suit, which resulted in a $1.3 million jury verdict. (Hanna v. American University, DC. Sup. 2018).