Ellen teaches legal ethics and agricultural & food law courses for JD students and un[a]uthorized practice of law courses for other professionals. She is a co-author on several legal ethics texts, a member of the NC State Bar Ethics Committee, and a subject-matter expert for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam. She also serves on the ABA's Standing Committee on Professional Regulation.

Ellen served as Wake Forest Law's first Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives and first Assistant Dean of Instructional Technologies and Design. An online teacher since 2009, she was the chief administrative and curricular architect of the school's online Master of Legal Studies.

A native of Eastern North Carolina, Ellen has a BS in Agribusiness and a Master's in Instructional Technologies from NC State University, as well as an LLM in Agricultural and Food Law from the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville). Prior to joining Wake Forest Law, Ellen was a United States federal appeals court clerk (The Honorable Frank J. Magill, 8th Circuit), a corporate lawyer, and the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Lawyer Assistance Program. She is a 2002 graduate of Wake Forest Law, where she served as Editor in Chief of the law review.

Experience

  • –present
    Professor of Practice, Wake Forest University

Education

  • 2026 
    University of Arkansas School of Law (Fayetteville), LLM
  • 2014 
    North Carolina State University, MEd
  • 2002 
    Wake Forest School of Law, JD
  • 1998 
    North Carolina State University, BS

Contact Ellen for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision