Alison Ross Ellis
Senior Counsel
Overview
Alison Ross Ellis is an experienced litigator based in Holland & Knight's Richmond office. For nearly two decades, Ms. Ellis has represented business, financial service, energy and construction industry clients with excellence in state and federal trial and appellate courts throughout the United States.
Ms. Ellis' litigation experience includes first-chair trial work, class action defense, mediation and arbitration of complex disputes, effective motion practice, directing case strategy and prevailing at trials involving contract disputes, business torts and easement rights. She regularly defends financial services clients against consumer claims, such as those brought under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), various state statutes and common law claims. Additionally, Ms. Ellis represents creditors in bankruptcy proceedings.
Further, Ms. Ellis commits a portion of her practice to the representation of pro bono clients in court proceedings of all levels. She also serves on a variety of civic committees and professional boards.
Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Ms. Ellis was an attorney at a global law firm in its Richmond office.
While in law school, Ms. Ellis participated in the Virginia General Assembly Externship Program, as well as the school's Legal Aid Clinic, and worked with a community mediation program through an award from the school's Public Service Fund.
Representative Experience
- Creditor counsel in workouts and adversary proceedings
- Special litigation counsel to a New York debtor defending environmental claims brought by the Commonwealth of Virginia
- Multimillion-dollar judgments on behalf of a lender in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, and subsequent appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, against an insurer based on the insurer's wrongful failure to pay claims
- Negotiating complicated settlements for policyholders following litigation and discovery
- Obtaining federal court dismissal and transfer to proper venue on behalf of a Texas business in a contract dispute filed in Virginia state court
- Litigation counsel for mortgage companies in lawsuits involving third-party fraudsters, insurer's failure to pay claims and in defense of consumer claims
- Managed and directed defensive litigation strategies in putative class actions and arbitration proceedings for financial services clients in various jurisdictions
- Counseled the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and a number of other trade groups in relation to a high-profile matter pending before the Virginia Supreme Court regarding the Virginia Public-Private Transportation Act (PPTA)
- Defended companies in mass arbitration proceedings
- Obtained favorable final judgments against infringing landowners on behalf of utility companies in federal court through motions practice and trial
- Litigation counsel for general contractors, owners and subcontractors in disputes involving contract claims and business torts
- Litigation counsel for natural gas companies seeking to protect their contractual easement rights against landowners in several federal lawsuits, both defensively and offensively
- Represented coal companies and their principal pursuing business tort claims before the Virginia Supreme Court, on remand to the trial court and in federal bankruptcy court proceedings
- Represented builders in a state court summary judgment action and subsequent appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court in a case involving a municipality's wrongful efforts to collect early cash proffers from developers
Credentials
- William & Mary Law School, J.D., with honors in Legal Skills
- University of Tennessee, B.A., Political Science, summa cum laude
- Virginia
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia
- U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
- U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia
- Federal Bar Association, Richmond Chapter, Board Member, 2014-Present; President, 2020
- Virginia Bar Association, 2007-Present
- John Marshall Association, Junior Board Member and Event Chair, 2016-2017
- Westhampton Community Association, 2020-Present
- William & Mary Law School Alumni Association, Board Member, 2015-2023; Appellate Clinic Advisor, 2013; Reunion Committee, 2012
- Virginia Business Magazine Legal Elite, Civil Litigation, 2014-2016, 2020, 2021, 2023-2025; Construction Litigation, 2024
- Rising Star, Virginia Super Lawyers magazine, Business Litigation, 2015-2017
