Ellen M. Papadakis
Counsel

Practice Areas

Experience

Ellen Papadakis specializes in defending and counseling employers on employment-related matters in a broad range of industries, such as healthcare, supply chain management, technology, aerospace, grocery, and retail. Ellen also advises and defends clients with regard to third-party disability access claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act and California law. In addition, Ellen has extensive experience in general commercial litigation matters, including areas of insurance coverage, contract, products liability and patent infringement.

Representative matters include; defending employment litigation cases in both state and federal court involving claims of discrimination and harassment (sex, race, age, disability, and sexual orientation), wrongful discharge, retaliation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress; counseling employers on litigation avoidance and employment law compliance on various matters, including disability accommodation and leaves of absence; successfully negotiating resolution of numerous disability access claims on behalf of various public accommodations ranging from single-site family-owned businesses to national grocery, automotive service, and hospital facilities; serving as part of the trial team in Lieber v. Macy’s West, a disability access class action; defending liability carrier in multiple multimillion-dollar environmental insurance coverage disputes involving contract and bad faith claims in state and federal court.

Publications

• California Court of Appeal Requires a Showing of Discriminatory Intent in Disability Access Cases under the Unruh Civil Rights Act (2007)
• Note, “The Continued Confinement of Insanity Acquitees: Foucha v. Louisiana,” 83 J. Crim. L. and Criminology 944 (1993)

Presentations

• Presenter, “It’s All Geek to Me: A Survival Guide to Electronic Discovery” (2007)

Languages

Greek

Admissions

Ellen is admitted to practice in California and Illinois, U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and Federal Circuits, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois and the U.S. District Courts of California.

Education

Northwestern University School of Law, J.D. (Note and Comment Editor, Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology; Lowden-Wigmore Prize for Legal Scholarship)
Northwestern University, B.A.