1. Home
  2. |Professionals
  3. |Ellen Moran Dwyer

Ellen Moran Dwyer

Partner | She/Her/Hers
Partner | She/Her/Hers
ZWR3eWVyQGNyb3dlbGwuY29t
VCardLinkedIn
VCardLinkedIn

Areas of Focus

Overview

Corporate boards and client leaders trust Ellen to advise them in their most sensitive employment matters that generate significant risk for their organizations. Whether leading a high-profile sexual harassment investigation, litigating racial or gender equity issues, responding to activist shareholder demands, or advising on the myriad issues that impact her clients’ most productive talent, Ellen serves as a strategist and collaborative partner to her clients.

Ellen is a trusted advisor to clients across a range of industries, including technology, higher education, and professional services. Clients count on her judgment - based on her more than 30 years of experience counseling and litigating employment matters - in handling and resolving their most sensitive employment matters.  She appreciates the importance of listening, gaining an intimate understanding of her clients’ businesses, and developing holistic and creative solutions that align with their business objectives.  

Ellen’s substantive work extends to counseling clients across the full array of employment statutes and common law, including the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, among others. She litigates actions filed under federal and state anti-discrimination, retaliation, trade secret and related employment laws, and has extensive experience investigating Board-level issues, including sexual harassment, race and gender equity issues, code of conduct and conflict of interest issues.  

Ellen has been a champion of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at the firm and within the broader legal industry as chair of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. 

Ellen has served in several senior leadership positions with Crowell, including as chair of the firm’s Executive Committee and a member of its Management Board.

Career & Education

|

    • St. Lawrence University, B.A., summa cum laude, 1982
    • Cornell Law School, J.D., cum laude, 1985
    • St. Lawrence University, B.A., summa cum laude, 1982
    • Cornell Law School, J.D., cum laude, 1985

    • District of Columbia
    • Massachusetts (Inactive)
    • District of Columbia
    • Massachusetts (Inactive)

Ellen's Insights

Client Alert | 5 min read | 02.24.25

Administration’s DEI Rollback Efforts Paused by Federal Judge

Late on Friday, a federal judge in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction pausing certain elements of the Trump Administration’s two recent executive orders (“EOs”) addressing “illegal DEI programs.” The two EOs, Exec. Order 14151, Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing (the “J20 Order”) and Exec. Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (“J21 Order”), contain a number of provisions that, among other things, direct the federal government to dismantle “illegal DEI programs” within federal agencies and federal contractors. Please refer to our prior alert on these EOs for a full breakdown of the provisions in each....

View All Insights

Insights

Client Alert | 5 min read | 02.24.25

Administration’s DEI Rollback Efforts Paused by Federal Judge

Firm News | 3 min read | 02.19.25

Crowell & Moring Lawyers Named to Leadership Council on Legal Diversity’s 2025 Fellows and Pathfinder Programs

Client Alert | 3 min read | 01.23.25

What Private Employers Should Know Following President Trump’s Executive Order On Sex and Gender Identity

Client Alert | 5 min read | 06.24.24

Supreme Court Holds That Traditional, Four-Part Preliminary Injunction Standard Applies to National Labor Relations Act Injunctions
|

View All Insights

Practices

Industries

Ellen's Insights

Client Alert | 5 min read | 02.24.25

Administration’s DEI Rollback Efforts Paused by Federal Judge

Late on Friday, a federal judge in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction pausing certain elements of the Trump Administration’s two recent executive orders (“EOs”) addressing “illegal DEI programs.” The two EOs, Exec. Order 14151, Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing (the “J20 Order”) and Exec. Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (“J21 Order”), contain a number of provisions that, among other things, direct the federal government to dismantle “illegal DEI programs” within federal agencies and federal contractors. Please refer to our prior alert on these EOs for a full breakdown of the provisions in each....

View All Insights