Ellisse S. Thompson is a litigator in Klein Thomas Lee & Fresard’s Detroit office. She represents clients in the areas of product liability and class action. She has extensive litigation experience, successfully handling matters from the onset of suit up to trial. She is founder and Co-Chair of KTLF Women, whose goal is to encourage the professional growth and promotion of women in the firm, and the legal industry.
Ellisse has substantial experience litigating product liability matters involving automobiles, commercial vehicles, hunting and outdoor products, and home consumer products. She also has experience defending class actions and multidistrict litigations. Ellisse brings a unique perspective to her defense practice, with experience working as in-house counsel for a major automobile manufacturer primarily responsible for managing product liability litigation. In that role, Ellisse assisted in coordinating cross-functional and specialty team meetings for outside counsel, engineers, and legal staff and also assisted with preparing technical experts for depositions. She oversaw Medicare compliance for personal injury cases and helped manage third-party cases and claims for company vehicle operations. In her role as in-house counsel, she also was a member of the employee engagement committee and was a co-lead for a women’s initiative culture pillar.
Ellisse worked as a Senior Attorney at a large national law firm defending and counseling manufacturers and retailers of hunting, outdoor, and recreational products on a national basis. She gained federal and state product litigation experience throughout the United States, from drafting initial pleadings and managing comprehensive pre-trial fact and expert discovery through mediation and trial preparation. As part of her national product liability practice, Ellisse conducted on-site investigations with expert witnesses, product inspections, and destructive engineering testing. She coordinated discovery responses, document collection, and document production. Her clients included some of the most innovative companies and manufacturers in the hunting industry, dedicated to embracing new technologies.
In addition, Ellisse worked at one of Michigan’s largest law firms, where her practice concentrated on product liability, premises and retail liability, food service liability, motor vehicle no-fault liability, and motor vehicle negligence. She served as an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Northville where she prosecuted misdemeanor and ordinance violations. She received the 2014 Pro Bono Recognition Award from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan for her volunteer service in representing a plaintiff in a complex disability case featuring elements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). She also assisted in launching a blog, as well as preparing and presented webinars on various topics including fraudulent and suspicious no-fault claims. Ellisse served as a judicial intern for the Honorable Nancy G. Edmunds of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. This experience gave Ellisse valuable insight into effective litigation techniques.
During law school, Ellisse received advocacy recognition in the Patrick A. Keenan Moot Court Competition. She also competed in the Billings, Exum & Frye National Moot Court Competition in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina. Ellisse received numerous academic awards, including Book Awards for the highest grade in Analytical Tools, Environmental Law, and the Mortgage Foreclosure Defense Clinic. She was also on the Dean’s List in 2012 and 2013.