Elena F. Mitchell

Elena is experienced in conducting both public-facing, and internal and privileged, civil rights and racial equity assessments for publicly-traded and privately-held companies and non-profit institutions. As a result of these engagements, Elena has been featured in national-level publications, including in articles published by Bloomberg Law, the Society for Human Resource Management, and Law360. She also has been featured in an episode of The Financial Executive Podcast and was recently named to the Charlotte Business Journal’s 2023 Power 100: DEI list in September 2023.

Elena also practices complex litigation involving a wide variety of employment and business matters and routinely represents clients in corporate and government investigations. In particular, Elena frequently conducts internal investigations related to employment law matters, including allegations of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.

Elena earned her bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism at the University of South Carolina and her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

DEI Highlights:

• Active in pro bono work, Elena supports the firm’s Human Trafficking Pro Bono Project and regularly handles expunction matters for the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy. Additionally, she has handled cases for the International Refugee Assistance Project and the firm’s Domestic Violence Pro Bono Project. Elena also has litigated civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in federal court.
• Elena is a member of the Hispanic National Bar Association, the Mecklenburg County Hispanic Latino Lawyers Bar, Women Lawyers of Charlotte, the firm’s Lawyers of Color and Women of Moore & Van Allen affinity groups, and the firm’s Young Professionals Committee.

• From 2018 through 2021, Elena served on the Board of Directors for Women Lawyers of Charlotte, a local nonprofit that works to foster professional and social relationships among diverse women lawyers while promoting equity, advancement, and opportunity for women through events, programs, mentorship, education, and community outreach. Specifically, Elena served as a Co-chair responsible for partnering with the Mecklenburg County Medical Society to plan and host an annual “Fighting for Women with Fashion” event, which benefits victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. The event has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years.

• In 2018, Elena took part in the Community Building Initiative’s Leaders Under 40 leadership program. See About Us, COMMUNITY BUILDING INITIATIVE, https://cbicharlotte.org/about-us/.

DEI-Related Publications

• What VC Fund Settlement Means For DEI Grant Programs, Law360, September 2024
• What 2 Rulings On Standing Mean For DEI Litigation, Law360, June 2024
• Supreme Court Denial in Virginia School Case Is a Diversity Win, Bloomberg Law, March 2024
• ESG with a Legal and Regulatory Focus, September 2022 and May 2023
• Attorneys Should Have An Ethical Duty To Advance DEI, Law360, May 2023
• Quoted in Equity Audits Address Racism in the Workplace, Society for Human Resource Management , August 2022
• Featured in Auditing a Company’s Civil Rights Record, The Financial Executive Podcast, June 2022
• Racial Equity Audits: The New ESG Frontier, Bloomberg Law, April 2022

Representative Experience

Investigations

• Routinely conducts internal investigations related to employment law matters, including allegations of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, as well as sensitive, confidential, internal reviews for Fortune 100 companies and other organizations relating to civil rights and DEI initiatives and impacts
• Conducted a racial equity audit of the nation’s largest private operator of correctional, detention, and residential reentry facilities and thereafter published a report detailing the team’s conclusions and recommendations (publicly-available here: CoreCivic Racial Equity Audit Report)
• Conducted an internal investigation into whistleblower allegations related to advice provided by the legal department of a U.S.-based global financial institution
• Conducted two separate internal investigations on behalf of a U.S.-based global financial institution relating to alleged auditing irregularities

Litigation

• Representing a large, international bank in various class and opt-out actions asserting anti-competitive practices arising from alleged manipulation of foreign exchange markets
• Representing a U.S.-based global financial institution in litigation involving alleged False Claims Act (FCA) violations
• Representing physicians and a physician staffing company in litigation involving numerous private causes of causes related to their alleged retaliatory termination
• Routinely responds to civil investigative and third-party litigation subpoenas

Advisory

• Advising a U.S.-based global financial institution on flood insurance matters
• Advising two, U.S.-based global financial institutions on recovery and resolution planning
• Advising a U.S.-based global financial institution on creating Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) legal risk assessments

Notable

• Charlotte Business Journal Power 100 List, 2023
• Leader Under 40, Community Building Initiative Class 8
• Co-chair, Moore & Van Allen’s Young Professionals Committee
• Featured speaker at a CLE for the legal department of a U.S.-based global financial institution for two years in a row on the topic of attorney-client privilege and work product protection
• Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy Pro Bono Honor Roll, 2022
• North Carolina Pro Bono Honor Society, 2017-2018, 2022

News

Insights

Affiliations

• American Bar Association
• Hispanic National Bar Association 
• North Carolina State Bar

• Women Lawyers of Charlotte (WLC), including serving on WLC’s Board of Directors from 2018 – 2021

• Mecklenburg County Bar
• Mecklenburg County Hispanic Latino Lawyers Bar
• Charlotte Gamecock Club
• UVA Club of Charlotte

Publications

• “What VC Fund Settlement Means For DEI Grant Programs," Law360, September 2024
• "What 2 Rulings On Standing Mean For DEI Litigation," Law360, June 2024
• "Supreme Court Denial in Virginia School Case Is a Diversity Win," Bloomberg Law, March 2024 
• “Attorneys Should Have An Ethical Duty To Advance DEI,” Law360, May 2023 
• “Racial Equity Audits: The New ESG Frontier”, Bloomberg Law , April 2022
• “Water Under the Bridge: Revised Interagency Flood Insurance Q&As to Replace Decade-Old Q&As”, MVA White Collar Defense, Investigations, and Regulatory Advice Blog, May 2021.
• "New Treasury Department Regulations Modify Mandatory Filing Requirements for Critical Technology Businesses", MVA White Collar Defense, Investigations, and Regulatory Advice Blog, June 2020
• "Treasury Department Publishes Interim Final Rule Implementing CFIUS Filing Fees", MVA White Collar Defense, Investigations, and Regulatory Advice Blog, April 2020
• “Treasury Department Publishes Proposed Rule on CFIUS Filing Fees”, MVA White Collar Defense, Investigations, and Regulatory Advice Blog, March 2020
• “New Treasury Department Regulations Expand CFIUS Authority”, MVA White Collar Defense, Investigations, and Regulatory Advice Blog, February 2020
• “Parting the Waters of Uncertainty for Private Flood Insurance,”ABA Banking Journal’s Risk and Compliance Newsletter, July 2019
• “The Time Is Now to Prepare for Congressional Inquiries from a Democrat-Led House,” Westlaw Journal Bank & Lender Liability, March 2019
• When Someone Shows You Who They Are, Believe Them the First Time:* What a Blue Wave in the House Likely Means for Financial Institutions,"MVA White Collar Defense, Investigations, and Regulatory Advice Blog, November 2018
• "Transitioning Away from LIBOR: What Is Coming and What Can We Do Now?" Corporate Compliance Insights, May 2018