Gould & Ratner is pleased to announce that Ellen Chapelle has re-joined the firm as a partner in our Construction Practice and as chair of the Insurance Counseling and Recovery Practice. Ellen returns after several years working as an in-house lawyer.
“We are beyond thrilled to have Ellen back. She is an extremely skilled lawyer with a vast breadth of knowledge in all aspects of construction and insurance law,” said Rich Reizen, Chair of Gould & Ratner’s Construction Practice. “That knowledge has been honed by her extensive experience in both private and public sector projects of all sizes and scopes.”
For the past several years, Ellen served as Associate General Counsel of the Fermi Research Alliance, which manages the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy. While at Fermilab, Ellen supported multiple large projects that are line items in Congressional budgets, including the Long Baseline Neutrino Facilities/DUNE-US Project, which recently completed construction on nine-story caverns a mile underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota. Ellen also worked on the risk management and insurance plans to prepare for Fermilab to host international collaborators who will be participating in the installation of scientific equipment at those facilities in South Dakota.
Prior to her tenure at Fermilab, Ellen’s experience at Gould & Ratner spanned both the litigation and corporate sides of representing a variety of construction and other corporate clients, and she often concentrated on providing counsel involving insurance specifications, including scope of coverage and additional insured requirements.
“Ellen’s knowledge and experience will enable her to provide valuable counsel to our clients in the construction, energy and insurance spaces and provide us with even greater depth in servicing our clients’ needs,” said Reizen.
Ellen’s work in the construction industry has involved representing corporations, partnerships, owners, general contractors and subcontractors in connection with both public and private projects. Her experience includes handling construction defect claims, change orders, delay claims, claims for cardinal changes in the contract, mechanics lien claims, bond claims and claims involving “pay when paid” clauses.
In the corporate arena, Ellen has years of experience negotiating and drafting contracts, including construction contracts, vendor agreements and non-disclosure agreements. She has also counseled clients concerning risk avoidance in the contracting process, including the importance of identifying gaps between insurance and indemnity provisions.
With respect to insurance coverage matters, Ellen has represented clients in disputes with their insurers for coverage under property, general liability and builders risk policies. In addition, she has litigated cases seeking insurance coverage for property damaged by construction defects.
