Felicia Ellsworth is vice chair of WilmerHale’s Litigation/Controversy Department. A first-chair trial lawyer and experienced appellate advocate who combines her significant trial experience with her recognized appellate skill to represent clients at all stages of litigation, Ms. Ellsworth’s practice focuses on high-stakes disputes in both state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States. She is a member of the American Law Institute, and is routinely recognized as a leading trial and appellate and litigator in industry publications, including Law360, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, and The American Lawyer. In addition, Ms. Ellsworth is the co-host of WilmerHale’s In the Public Interest podcast, which welcomes interesting guests who share their unique perspectives on challenging issues and topics making headlines.

Ms. Ellsworth was trial counsel to Harvard University in the case challenging its use of race in undergraduate admissions, which earned her the "Litigator of the Week" title in October 2019, a decision she successfully defended when the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment in November 2020. She has also represented numerous clients in disputes on a wide range of legal issues with a particular emphasis on complex disputes in the areas of administrative law, bankruptcy, commercial law, constitutional law, federal criminal law, the First Amendment, Indian law, intellectual property, jurisdiction, preemption, and real property. 

Ms. Ellsworth has authored several merits briefs and numerous certiorari-stage briefs in cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, and has also authored successful briefs and dispositive motions before federal and state courts of appeals, including  the Massachusetts Appeals Court and Supreme Judicial Court and the US Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth and Federal Circuits. She has argued before both federal and state appeals courts, including the First, Second, and Sixth Circuits, as well as the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.

In 2020, Ms. Ellsworth was appointed to the Boston Bar Association’s Amicus Committee and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Amicus Advisory Board, and in 2019, she was appointed by the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts to the Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services for the Massachusetts Court System. She also serves by appointment on the court system's Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil and Appellate Procedure. Ms. Ellsworth also previously worked as a Special Assistant District Attorney in the Middlesex District Attorney's Office in 2010 and 2011, where she prosecuted cases involving violent crimes, financial fraud, and many other offenses.

As co-chair of the firm's Pro Bono and Community Service Committee, Ms. Ellsworth maintains a robust pro bono practice, including representing clients in constitutional cases, criminal appeals, immigration proceedings, and civil rights actions. She played a lead role in WilmerHale’s representation as co-counsel with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the Commonwealth’s challenge to the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, leading to the historic Supreme Court marriage equality ruling. She has also been appointed to the First Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Justice Act panel and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Women’s Bar Foundation.

A native of the Boston area, Ms. Ellsworth served as a law clerk to Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge Michael Boudin of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. She attended Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the University of Chicago Law School, where she was the editor-in-chief of The University of Chicago Law Review.