Doane Stuart is proud to announce the recognition of its alumna Ellen Jakovic, DS ’78, for being selected as Bar Association of the District of Columbia 2019 Lawyer of the Year.  Ellen graduated from Doane Stuart in 1978 and served on the Doane Stuart Board of Trustees for more than 18 years. For many of those years, Ellen served as Secretary of the Board.  

Ellen is a partner in the antitrust group at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where she advises clients on the antitrust aspects of complex mergers, acquisitions, and join venters and coordinates U.S. and International merger control filing and clearance efforts.  She is an active member of the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Section and served as co-editor for the fifth edition (2015) of the ABA Antitrust Section’s Premerger Notification Practice Manual. Ellen has been named to the Washington DC Super Lawyers list for the past five years.  Ellen is a graduate of Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, magna cum laude, and Harvard Law School, where she served on the Board of Student Advisers.  

A leader throughout the DC legal community, Ellen currently serves on the Boards of the Council for Court Excellence and the DC Bar Foundation.  She is Past President of the Barristers, The Women’s Bar Association of DC, and the Women’s Bar Association Foundation. She also has served on the governing boards of the DC Bar, the Bar Association of DC and the Washington Foreign Law Society.  She is the 2014-2015 recipient of the Bar Association of DC’s Annice M. Wagner Pioneer Award.

Ellen serves as Chair of the Fellows of the ABA Foundation.  She is a past Chair of the Washington, DC Fellows of the Foundation.  She is a recipient of the 2013 Fellows Outstanding State Chair Award.

Ellen was awarded the Doane Stuart School Distinguished Alumni/ae Award in 2013 for her continuous support of the Doane Stuart School’s mission, values and goals and by her personal achievement in her field. 

The Bar Association of the District of Columbia bestows the 2019 Lawyer of the Year award on Ellen M. Jakovic, in celebration of her excellence in the practice of law; for her demonstrated commitment to access to justice for all; for her promotion of civility within the legal profession; for infusing camaraderie among lawyers, judge and bar associations; for her true appreciation and respect for those who choose law as a profession and for those who rely on the profession for justice.

Congratulations Ellen, your alma mater couldn’t be more proud of you!