Ellen K. Renaud

Clients describe Ellen K. Renaud as a consummate professional, analytical and strategic, and dedicated to justice, and praise her for making them feel comfortable, understood, and validated.

For more than 18 years, Ellen has successfully represented hundreds of public and private employees suffering civil rights violations during administrative investigations, before the EEOC, in settlement negotiations, and in state and federal court.  She has tried and won several cases in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.  Ellen has successfully argued multiple cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Ellen’s practice has focused on litigating discrimination claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Equal Pay Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the D.C. Human Rights Act.  Local media has reported on her fierce representation of women who have been sexually harassed by local fire and police departments.

Ellen is well-versed in the laws governing employment discrimination and has taught two continuing legal education courses on the intricacies of proving causation in employment discrimination cases.

Ellen earned her B.S. from Cornell University and her J.D., magna cum laude from the American University’s Washington College of Law, where she served on the American University Law Review. During law school, Professor (now Congressman) Jamie Raskin awarded Ellen for her work in constitutional law.  She also received scholarships for her academic achievements and service in the law school’s “Women and the Law” clinical program. After law school, Ellen served as law clerk to the Honorable Rosemarie Annunziata of the Court of Appeals of Virginia.