Elena F. Mitchell

Elena’s practice focuses on complex litigation and advisory matters involving a wide variety of contract, supply agreement, lease, guaranty, credit and security agreement, and loan disputes; business torts; trust, estate, and fiduciary litigation; and antitrust litigation. Her clients include international and national manufacturers and retailers; high-net-worth individuals and families; banks and other financial institutions; and commercial landlords, property owners, and property management companies. Elena regularly practices in state and federal court and in arbitrations.

Recently, Elena has represented manufacturers in high-value supply agreement, equipment, and warranty disputes, including emergency state and bankruptcy court proceedings to recover critical production equipment. She also focuses on trust, estate, and fiduciary litigation matters, and currently represents, or has recently represented, surviving spouses, beneficiaries, and fiduciaries in will caveats, trust disputes, and family-business wealth disputes. Additionally, Elena regularly advises and represents banks and other financial institutions in a variety of matters, including in evaluating potential investments, when competing claimants dispute ownership of accounts or funds and assert related fraud and other tort claims, and in their capacities as administrative agents and lenders when litigation threatens the value of their collateral.

Representative Experience

Litigation

• Represent manufacturing companies in complex commercial disputes, particularly involving high-value supply agreements, equipment contracts, warranty and indemnification claims, and other strategic litigation

  • Obtained a judgment of approximately $175 million on behalf of an international aluminum can manufacturer against a national alcoholic beverage company following a two-week jury trial in Chicago federal court in which both parties claimed breach of a long-term supply agreement
  • Served as local counsel for a leading specialty food brand in a high-stakes matter to recover approximately $3 million in highly customized manufacturing equipment from a third-party packager
• Represented a national retailer in state opioid litigation
• Represent high-net-worth clients in disputes over assets (including real property), will and trust challenges and caveats (including those involving testamentary capacity and undue influence issues), and related matters
  • Represented a co-trustee in resolving a dispute between a surviving spouse and the decedent’s children over a marital trust valued at nearly $8 million through a settlement approved by the court that terminated the trusts
  • Argued and won summary judgment defeating a beneficiary’s action to reform a will, and secured the withdrawal of related petitions to compel a power of attorney accounting and revoke the executor’s letters testamentary
  • Second-chaired a three-week jury trial in a will caveat involving an approximately $25 million estate and issues of testamentary capacity and undue influence, arguing motions for summary judgment, motions in limine, and motions for directed verdict and post-trial relief, and later argued the appeal before the North Carolina Court of Appeals
• Represent global and national banks and other financial institutions in a variety of commercial matters, including pre-litigation matters and federal and state court actions involving allegations of lender liability and fraud
• Represented a large, international bank in various class and opt-out actions asserting anti-competitive practices arising from alleged manipulation of foreign exchange markets
• Obtained dismissal of a False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam case filed against a U.S.-based global financial institution in federal court
• Routinely respond to civil investigative and third-party litigation subpoenas
• Represent landlords and commercial property owners and managers with unconventional tenancy concerns and other pre-litigation and litigation matters
  • Represented a global property management company serving retail locations of a large national bank in a dispute involving interpretation of the terms of a complex master services agreement and related statements of work
• Represented physicians and a physician staffing company in litigation involving numerous private causes of action arising from their alleged retaliatory termination

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 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

Advisory

• Advised a U.S.-based global financial institution in a contested dispute between the former and current owners of a business customer over control of, and entitlement to, deposit account funds following the sale of the business, including coordinating preservation efforts, freezing the disputed accounts under the governing deposit agreement, and evaluating potential interpleader and declaratory judgment claims
• Advised a U.S.-based global financial institution on flood insurance matters
• Advised two U.S.-based global financial institutions on recovery and resolution planning
• Advised a U.S.-based global financial institution on developing Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) legal risk assessments

Notable

• Best Lawyers in America, Commercial Litigation "Ones to Watch," 2025-2027; Criminal Defense White-Collar, 2026-2027
• Recipient of the Charlotte Business Journal’s 40 under 40 Award, 2025
• North Carolina Super Lawyers "Rising Star", Business Litigation, 2025-2026
• 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
• Completed a secondment in the legal department of a U.S.-based global financial institution focused on regulatory matters and, specifically, recovery planning
• North Carolina Pro Bono Honor Society, 2017-2018, 2022-2023, 2025

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 as a Co-chair responsible for planning the organization’s annual “Fighting for Women with Fashion” event, which benefits victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County

• 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