News Releases

Schiff Hardin LLP Welcomes Sara L. Ellis as Counsel in the Litigation Group of the Chicago Office

June 26, 2008

Sara L. Ellis has joined Schiff Hardin LLP as Counsel in the Litigation Group from the City of Chicago where she was an Assistant Corporation Counsel.

Ms. Ellis is a trial attorney who concentrates her practice in complex civil and criminal litigation. She has extensive experience in representing clients charged with federal white collar crimes from the target stage of the investigation through the appellate process. She has argued before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and filed petitions for certiorari before the United States Supreme Court. She also has extensive experience in representing municipal corporations in complex Section 1983 civil rights litigation, including class actions for injunctive relief.

Prior to joining Schiff Hardin, Ms. Ellis was a supervisor at the City of Chicago's Department of Law in the Police Policy Division where she represented the City of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department in Section 1983 policy litigation. Her cases involved complex policy claims against the City, including class claims for injunctive relief. While at the Corporation Counsel's Office, Ms. Ellis successfully resolved a class action lawsuit brought by witnesses who claimed that they were unlawfully detained. She also successfully stayed policy litigation in a case brought the parents of a woman who was injured by falling out of a CHA high rise building after having been released from Chicago Police Department custody.

Earlier, Ms. Ellis was an associate with Stetler & Duffy, Ltd., a boutique white collar litigation firm where she represented both individuals and corporations charged with white collar crimes. Ms. Ellis started her career as a staff attorney at the Federal Defender Program in Chicago , Illinois, where she had extensive federal trial experience. While at the Federal Defender, Ms. Ellis successfully persuaded the U.S. Attorney's Office to withdraw a mandatory life sentence notification for her client following his conviction for drug offenses after a six month trial. She defended clients charged with a variety of crimes from drug and gun offenses to complex tax, mail, and wire fraud offenses. She has significant experience negotiating plea agreements and working with the Sentencing Guidelines.

Ms. Ellis is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago School of Law (J.D., 1994), and Indiana University (B.A., Political Science and Religious Studies, 1991).