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Luke Ellis |
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Luke Ellis’s principal area of practice is civil litigation, with a strong focus on representing property owners facing condemnation and eminent-domain issues. Luke has successfully represented landowners against condemning authorities at the local, county, and state levels for cases involving the taking of property in fee simple (new road projects and right-of-way expansion projects) as well as easements (gas pipelines, water pipelines, and electric-transmission lines). Luke’s landowner clients have included owners of shopping centers, office buildings, gas stations, developing subdivisions, ranches, residential and recreational tracts, and vacant land.
Luke received his undergraduate degree in 1997 from the University of Texas, graduating with honors with a B.A. in political science. In 2002, he obtained his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law, where he was a member of the Texas Law Review. Following graduation, Luke served as a law clerk on the Texas Supreme Court.
In addition to his commitment to private practice, Luke cares deeply about giving back to Austin and central Texas. He is the author of “The Common Law,” an informa-tional weekly |
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column in the Austin Chronicle that discusses how the law addresses everyday legal issues. Additionally, Luke is the attorney-host of a News8Austin television news segment, also called “The Common Law,” that discusses practical legal issues and how those issues impact central Texans. Luke has served on the Board of Directors for Austin Habitat for Humanity for four years and currently serves as board president. He participated in a post-tsunami international Habitat for Humanity build project in Sri Lanka and is a founding member, former chair, and advisory board of Austin’s Habitat Young Professionals organization. Luke has served as a co-chair and guest lecturer for the People’s Law School, an annual Austin Bar Association event designed to teach people their legal rights in numerous situations. A 2007 graduate of Leadership Austin, Luke served on the advisory committee for the first ever Leadership Austin Emerge class. Luke currently serves on the board of directors for Austin Lawyer Referral Service.
In recognition of his abilities as a lawyer and his substantial contributions to his community, Luke has received several awards, including the Austin Bar Association’s award as Austin Outstanding Young Lawyer for 2009, the 2008 Austin Under 40 Award in the Legal Category (www.austinunder40.org), and the Austin United Way’s 2007 Young Professional of the Year. He was recognized multiple times as a “Rising Star” by Law and Politics Magazine published in Texas Monthly (2009 and 2008 in eminent domain and 2007 and 2006 in commercial litigation).
Luke is admitted to practice in Texas (2003) and New York (2002) as well as in the U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Northern, Western, and Eastern Districts of Texas. He is also a member of the American Bar Association, Texas Young Lawyers Association, the Austin Bar Association; and Austin Young Lawyers Association. |
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- Represented a Fortune 500 retail operation to ensure just compensation in State of Texas road projects.
- Represented landowner against the State of Texas in relation to a new SH-45-SE tollway project.
- Represented multiple landowners against the State of Texas’s SH-130 project (segments 5 & 6).
- Represented a landowner against the State of Texas’s widening of SH-121 in Denton County, Texas.
- Represented Dallas County property owners against the State of Texas’s widening of 635 and the expansion of US Highway 183.
- Represented multiple landowners in Johnson, Ellis, and Tarrant Counties in relation to a gas-pipeline project.
- Represented landowners in central Texas facing a water-pipeline project.
- Represented Texas landowners facing condemnation proceedings for an electric-transmission line.
- Conducted multiple jury trials, special commissioners hearings, and related expert and fact witness depositions in eminent-domain matters.
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- “Eminent Domain 101—The Nuts and Bolts of How the Condemnation Process Works,” Flick Commercial Real Estate Report, September-October 2007 edition
- “The Common Law” column in the Austin Chronicle (approximately 200 columns since 2003)
- “The Common Law” television segment on News8Austin (approximately 150 segments since 2005)
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Glenn Sodd
Luke Ellis