Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Intellectual Property and Technology Disputes

Associate - Litigation and Investigations

Ellen Whitehorn is a member of the Intellectual Property and Business & Commercial Disputes Practice Groups. She primarily assists clients in clearing, registering, and enforcing trademarks, as well as representing clients in trademark infringement disputes. She has represented clients in the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and in federal courts. Ellen actively manages and protects trademarks and intellectual property rights for a wide variety of industries and products, including footwear and fashion, real estate, educational services, computer software, health and wellness, and food service.

Ellen has significant experience representing clients in trade dress disputes, including representing a medical device company and a famous footwear fashion company.  She also has experience handling aspects of commercial and transactional intellectual property matters, including trademark licenses and assignments. Additionally, Ellen handles non-trademark litigation matters, including trade secrets and product liability cases.

Additionally, Ellen dedicates significant time to pro bono work ranging from trademark applications for non-profit organizations to criminal matters for incarcerated individuals. She joined the firm as the third BCLP Concordance Fellow. In her first two years at the firm, through the fellowship, Ellen worked with the Concordance Academy to address the legal needs of previously justice-involved individuals in order to ease re-entry and reduce recidivism. Prior to joining the firm, Ellen was a law clerk for a corporate transactional practice at a regional firm in Des Moines, Iowa.

During law school, Ellen was a moot court competitor and editor of the Journal of Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems. She also represented clients through the University of Iowa College of Law’s Clinical Law Program, where she worked closely with victims of domestic violence in family law matters. Additionally, she was judicial extern to Judge Sara Darrow in the United States District Court in the Central District of Illinois.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS International Trademark Association (INTA), Designs Committee (2023-present) American Bar Association (ABA) The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (BAMSL) The Waco-McLennan County Bar Association