Rev. Dr. Ellen Clark Clémot

Ellen is both a lawyer and a Presbyterian pastor. She concentrates her law practice with us on assisting religious corporations and other not-for-profit organizations navigate New York laws specifically applicable to them. Ellen is passionate about helping congregations and denominations maximize their real estate assets in service to their sense of mission. As churches re-size and re-assess their needs for physical space, they can find new ways to serve their communities by making their campuses, real estate holdings like manses and fellowship halls, into community gathering places that generate revenue and help the neighborhood.

Biography

Ellen has practiced law for over 20 years with developed expertise in mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, real estate partnerships, corporate finance, and private equity investments. She worked for several years as a corporate transactional attorney for major New York-based law firms in London and Paris before returning to New York City to continue a transactional practice before pursuing seminary studies at Princeton in 2009.

Ellen is also an ordained Presbyterian minister, having taken some time away from the law to serve congregations in the Presbyterian Church (USA) as a Senior Pastor and Head of Staff for over 12 years. She teaches church governance at Princeton Theological Seminary as an adjunct professor and can still occasionally be found in the pulpit on Sunday mornings as a guest preacher. Ellen speaks regularly about the housing crisis facing unhoused migrants and refugees. Her award-winning book, Discerning Welcome – (Cascade 2022), addresses asylum legislation in the United States as informed by principles of ethics and the Reformed faith tradition.

Ellen is a graduate of NYU Law School, where she was an articles editor for the Annual Survey of American Law, and received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University, magna cum laude. Subsequently, she earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Duke University after graduating with an M.Div. at Princeton Theological Seminary as part of her preparation for ordained ministry.

Bar Admissions

  • The State of New York
  • The State of Connecticut

Education

  • NYU Law School
  • Doctor of Ministry Degree from Duke University
  • M.Div. at Princeton Theological Seminary
  • B.A., Brown University (Magna Cum Laude)