Attorney Profile

Ellen J. Messing is a former partner of the firm of Messing, Rudavsky & Weliky, P.C. A cum laude graduate of Harvard University and Boston University School of Law, Ms. Messing concentrates her practice in representing employees in employment litigation, including wrongful termination, discrimination, contract, sexual harassment, and higher education and public education matters.

Recognized by her peers as a national leader among employment lawyers, she served for 15 years, including four as National Secretary, on the Board of Directors of the National Employment Lawyers Association and as cochair of NELA’s Ethics and Sanctions Committee, and co-founded NELA’s Massachusetts chapter. Elected as a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers in 2000, Ms. Messing also served on the Advisory Council to the American Bar Association’s Commission on Evaluation of the Rules of Professional Conduct (Ethics 2000 Commission), where she led a coalition of civil rights organizations that successfully lobbied for reform of the ABA’s Model Rule of Professional Conduct 4.2 in 2002.

That same year, she and her firm won a hard-fought decision from the Supreme Judicial Court interpreting Rule 4.2 favorably for Massachusetts plaintiffs and their attorneys. She has also successfully argued before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the First Circuit Court of Appeals as amicus curiae, in cases seeking expansion of the rights of workers and limitation of legal doctrines that would diminish those rights.

A national consultant to other employment lawyers on ethics and Massachusetts employment law, Ms. Messing authored the chapter, “The Ethical Constraints on Talking to Potential Witnesses” in the book Representing Plaintiffs in Title VII Actions; has published extensively elsewhere on employment law and ethics issues; and has chaired or co-chaired the Boston Bar Association Professional Ethics Committee, the Massachusetts Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section, and the Massachusetts Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section Ethics Committee. Ms. Messing also served on the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System’s Ad Hoc Committee on Pattern Discovery in Federal Employment Cases.

In 2025, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly conferred its Hall of Fame award on Ms. Messing. In 2002, Ms. Messing was recognized by Boston magazine in its “Best of Boston” list of attorneys concentrating in employment law. She was similarly recognized by Massachusetts Super Lawyers in each year from 2004 to 2025, and as one of the “Top 50 Female Massachusetts Super Lawyers” in 2004, 2005, 2009, 2011, and 2012. Ms. Messing has taught law students as an adjunct faculty member at the Boston University School of Law, as well as at the University of Michigan Law School and Northeastern University School of Law teaching evidence, trial advocacy and clinical courses. Ms. Messing was recognized as among the best attorneys in The Chambers USA America’s Leading Business Lawyers 2003-2004 Guide, selected for her skill in plaintiff’s employment and labor law. According to the Guide, Ms. Messing was described to its researchers as “smart and tough,” with an “expert plaintiffs’ practice.” She was further recognized in the 2016 Chambers USA Guide under “Labor & Employment: Mainly Plaintiffs Representation – Massachusetts” as “one of the deans of the plaintiff practice in Boston.” Attorney Messing continues to be ranked Band 1 in Chambers 2026 USA Guide.