Felicia Ellsworth is Vice Chair of WilmerHale’s Litigation/Controversy Department and a member of the firm’s Management Committee. She is a first-chair trial lawyer and experienced appellate advocate who combines her significant trial experience with her recognized appellate skill to represent clients at all stages of litigation. Her trial practice focuses on high-stakes complex commercial litigation in both state and federal courts, and her appellate practice spans both civil and criminal matters in the state and federal appeals courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States. Ms. Ellsworth has broad- based appellate expertise in areas including complex business disputes, real estate and patent law. She was trial counsel to Harvard University in the case challenging its use of race in undergraduate admissions, which earned her The American Lawyer’s “Litigator of the Week” title in October 2019. She successfully defended the court’s decision when the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment in 2020.

Ms. Ellsworth is the co-host of WilmerHale’s In the Public Interest podcast, which welcomes interesting guests who share their unique perspectives on challenging issues and topics making headlines. She is a member of the American Law Institute and is routinely recognized as a leading trial and appellate litigator in industry publications, including Law360, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and The American Lawyer. She was appointed to the Boston Bar Association’s Amicus Committee and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Amicus Advisory Board and, in 2019, she was appointed by the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts to the Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services for the Massachusetts Court System. Ms. Ellsworth previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States and the Honorable Michael Boudin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.