Faculty Profile: Kathryn Ellis

Kathryn Ellis joined LAET's Knoxville office in March 2012 with a primary area of practice in domestic violence (Orders of Protection and divorces). Dr. Ellis also assisted with some housing law issues and some consumer law issues.

In July 2016, Dr. Ellis became the Pro Bono Director for LAET's Knoxville area offices and is responsible for recruiting and coordinating volunteer pro bono attorneys from the private bar to assist LAET clients through direct representation and at legal advice clinics.

Prior to joining LAET, she worked as a sole practitioner practicing both criminal and civil law, in areas including child support, DUI defense, misdemeanor defense, and as a firm attorney in areas including personal injury, workers' compensation, wrongful death, and products liability, with an emphasis on drafting appellate briefs.

Dr. Ellis graduated from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia in 1996 with a B.A. in History and Political Science. She then completed an M.A. (1998) and Ph.D. (2007) in History at the University of Tennessee. Dr. Ellis's dissertation, "Slipping Backwards: The Supreme Court, Segregation Legislation, and the African American Press, 1877-1920" looked at the influence of the U.S. Supreme Court on the evolution of Jim Crow legislation. Finally, Dr. Ellis obtained her J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law in May 2010.

In December 2016, Dr. Ellis was elected to the Knoxville Bar Association's Board of Governors for a three-year term. She was selected to serve as Vice President of the Blount County Bar Association for 2018. In addition to her Bar memberships, Dr. Ellis is a member of the Hamilton Burnett American Inn of Court, the Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women, and the East Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women. Dr. Ellis is currently Co-Chair of the Blount County Task Force against Domestic Violence. She served two years as Co-Chair of the KBA Barristers Access to Justice Committee, three years as Chair of the KBA Barristers Mock Trial Committee, and four years as Co-Chair of the ETLAW Program Committee. In addition, Dr. Ellis is a member of the Knoxville Bar Association's Diversity in the Profession Committee and Access to Justice Committee, the Tennessee Bar Association's Access to Justice Committee and CLE Committee, and the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services (TALS) Family Law Task Force (Past Chair) and Housing & Consumer Law Task Force.

Dr. Ellis stays actively involved in mentoring law students as her schedule allows. She coached mock trial teams for the UT College of Law from 2010 to 2016, most recently coaching the UT College of Law Black Law Student Association's Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Team. The McReynolds Chapter Phi Alpha Delta Mock Trial team that she coached for five years finished in first place in 2014 and second place in 2015 in their national competition. Since 2010, Dr. Ellis has consistently judged the Ray H. Jenkins Mock Trial Competition and the Advocates' Prize Competition, which are each held annually at the UT College of Law. Dr. Ellis also regularly sits on panels at both the UT College of Law and LMU's Duncan School of Law addressing issues ranging from working with trauma victims to what to expect as a law clerk to how to be "practice-ready" as a new attorney.

In December 2015, Dr. Ellis received the Knoxville Bar Association Barristers President's Award. She was also honored in May 2018 with the Knoxville Bar Association's Law Through Liberty Award.

In 2016, Dr. Ellis completed training to become a Rule 31 General Civil Mediator.