Ellen Smith Yost is an associate in the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and is a member of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group.

Ellen earned her Juris Doctor summa cum laude in 2021 from SMU Dedman School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif, was lead articles editor for the SMU Law Review, and practiced in the First Amendment Clinic. After law school, she served as law clerk to Judge Jane J. Boyle in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Before practicing law, Ellen worked in the editorial department of a major publishing house in New York, and in communications and outreach roles for nonprofit organizations and a regional planning agency in Texas. She graduated cum laude from Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts, and later earned a Masters of Public Administration with a focus on nonprofit management from the University of North Texas. Her writing has been published in the SMU Law Review, Journal of Air Law and Commerce, Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal, and Journal of Legal Medicine.

Ellen is admitted to practice in Texas.