Ellyde R. Thompson is a partner in Quinn Emanuel’s New York office and Co-Chair of the firm’s Appellate Practice Group. She brings a unique blend of trial and appellate experience to her matters and has special expertise in ensuring the preservation at trial of issues for appellate review, having won jury trials in recent years in trademark, securities fraud, patent infringement, and defamation matters.
Ellyde has extensive experience litigating across many practice areas, including high-stakes complex commercial matters, constitutional law, securities law, copyright and trademark law, employment law, sports law, and the energy sector. Ellyde was a lead member of the trial team that obtained a complete defense verdict in In Re Tesla Securities Litigation for Elon Musk, Tesla, and Tesla’s board of directors, a judgment Ellyde successfully defended on appeal. Ellyde also obtained a jury verdict in favor of Jay-Z and his company in a lawsuit for breach of a trademark licensing agreement. In the appeal in that case, Ellyde not only successfully obtained affirmance of the favorable verdict but also obtained judgment in favor of Jay-Z on his counterclaim. Ellyde currently represents commercial real estate listing service Commercial Real Estate Exchange, Inc. in a copyright lawsuit at the trial level, having successfully represented Commercial Real Estate Exchange at the Supreme Court in defeating a petition for certiorari involving questions of antitrust law.
Ellyde frequently litigates issues of constitutional and statutory law, including questions of preemption. For more than a decade, Ellyde has represented energy companies in a wide range of proceedings, before federal and state administrative agencies, on trial and appeal, before the United States Supreme Court, and in arbitration hearings. As a former newspaper reporter, Ellyde often handles cases implicating the First Amendment and recently won a complete dismissal of a $250 million defamation claim brought against client Chainalysis in New York state court. As an appellate specialist, Ellyde regularly represents clients before the United States Supreme Court, at both the certiorari stage and the merits stage, and before state Supreme Courts.
Ellyde has an active pro bono practice. Ellyde recently represented a high-profile rapper as amicus curiae in a death penalty appeal involving the First Amendment and due process issues implicated by the use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal prosecutions and was quoted in both the New York Times and Rolling Stone related to those legal arguments. Ellyde has represented the Stein Center for Law and Ethics as counsel of record on several Supreme Court amicus briefs concerning the constitutionality of the administration of the death penalty and prosecutorial misconduct. In 2017, she helped obtain a favorable Supreme Court decision invalidating on equal protection grounds a portion of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Prior to joining the firm, Ellyde clerked for the Honorable Betty Binns Fletcher on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and worked as an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, LLP. Ellyde was named a Law360 Rising Star in 2019.
- Alphabet
- Celgene Corp.
- Chainalysis
- CrowdStrike
- E*TRADE Financial Corporation
- Elsevier
- Entergy Corporation
- hiQ
- Jazz Pharmaceuticals
- KKR
- Elon Musk
- GFI Group
- QuadPay, Inc.
- Relay Payments, Inc.
- Rio Tinto
- The Richard Avedon Foundation
- S. Carter Enterprises
- Sequoia Capital
- System Energy Resources, Inc.
- Tesla
- Defending CrowdStrike, Inc. in lawsuit by Delta Air Lines, Inc. related to global technology outage.
- Representing Chainalysis in appeal of dismissal of $250 million defamation claim.
- Representing Tesla in the Indiana Supreme Court in review of jury verdict.
- Representing Commercial Real Estate Exchange, Inc. in district court action claiming copyright infringement.
- Representing Elsevier Inc., and Elsevier Ltd. in defamation action related to publication of scientific article.
- Represented Commercial Real Estate Exchange, Inc. at the U.S. Supreme Court on petition for certiorari concerning question of antitrust law.
- Obtained dismissal with prejudice of lawsuit against Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P.
- Obtained a jury verdict in favor of Shawn (“JAY-Z”) Carter and S. Carter Enterprises in trademark licensing lawsuit.
- Obtained a jury verdict in favor of Elon Musk in a defamation lawsuit in which the plaintiff sought $190 million.
- Represented System Energy Resources, Inc. in prudence proceeding before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
- Represented Relay Payments, Inc. in lawsuit from competitor alleging trade secret misappropriation.
- Represented Celgene Corp. in Federal Circuit appeal concerning the scope of the patent venue statute.
- Obtained dismissal with prejudice of trade libel lawsuit against American Society of Anesthesiologists related to Anesthesiology publications.
- Represented eBay and StubHub in Ninth Circuit in trade secret misappropriation appeal.
- Represented QuadPay Inc. in lawsuit against former employee.
- Represented Alphabet and Google in U.S. Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit in lawsuit concerning Google’s AdSense program.
- Represented major private equity fund in Delaware Chancery Court in a dispute arising out of termination of merger agreement.
- Represented musicians in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in appeal of jury verdict of copyright infringement involving the hit song “Blurred Lines.”
- Represented E*TRADE in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in lawsuit involving routing of trades.
- Represented Entergy in proceeding to obtain state approval for transfer of ownership of in-state nuclear power plant.
- Represented Respondent before U.S. Supreme Court in case challenging as unconstitutional on equal protection grounds sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act after obtaining favorable decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
- Obtained favorable settlement for The Richard Avedon Foundation in copyright lawsuit concerning ownership of more than 4,000 photographs.
- Obtained favorable decision after bench trial, and affirmance from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in case invalidating as preempted Vermont statutes regarding operation of in-state nuclear power plant.
- Obtained victory for GFI Group in the New York Appellate Division, First Department, reversing entry of summary judgment against GFI in employment dispute alleging former employee violated restrictive covenants.
- Fordham University School of Law
(J.D., magna cum laude)
- Dean’s List
- Fordham Law Review:
- Senior Articles Editor
- Fordham Moot Court Board
- Order of the Coif
- Northwestern University
(B.S., Journalism)
- Dean’s List
- The State Bar of New York
- United States Supreme Court
- United States Court of Appeals:
- First Circuit
- Second Circuit
- Third Circuit
- Fourth Circuit
- Fifth Circuit
- Seventh Circuit
- Ninth Circuit
- District of Columbia Circuit
- Federal Circuit
- United States District Court:
- Eastern District of New York
- Northern District of New York
- Southern District of New York
- Law Clerk to the Hon. Betty Binns Fletcher:
- United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2009-2010
- Cravath, Swaine & Moore, LLP:
- Associate, 2008-2009
- Lawdragon 500 Leading Energy Lawyers, Litigation - Entertainment, Media, Sports, Appellate, 2025 and 2026
- Lawdragon 500 Leading Energy Lawyers, Energy Litigation & Appeals, 2023-2025
- Law360 Rising Star, 2019
- Article, “Finality, Habeas, Innocence, and the Death Penalty: Can Justice Be Done?”, 85 Wash. L. Rev. 107 (2010).
- Note, “Executioner Identities: Toward Recognizing a Right to Know Who Is Hiding Beneath the Hood,” 75 Fordham L. Rev. 2791 (2007).
Loading...