How do I help lawyers and clients handle complex appeals and procedural issues?

I have focused my practice on litigation procedure and strategy at any court or administrative level.  My emphasis has always been on appellate procedure, but I am also conversant with trial court procedure and advise other lawyers and clients on both. In my experience, attentiveness to procedure and litigation strategy can often have a profoundly favorable effect on the outcome of litigation.

Helping clients and lawyers with appellate matters

Harvey Ellis brings more than four decades of experience to his practice on appellate advocacy and complex procedural issues. He regularly assists lawyers at the trial court level, on appellate strategy, preservation of issues and especially to prepare for a possible appeal, and he prosecutes and defends appeals, either alone or in conjunction with the lawyers involved at the trial court level.  His experience includes matters before Oklahoma appellate courts, the federal courts of appeal and the United States Supreme Court.

Experience across complex civil matters

Harvey has served as counsel in cases resulting in more than 40 published Oklahoma appellate opinions and more than 25 published federal appellate opinions. His work has involved business disputes generally, constitutional issues, legal ethics, class action defense, public interest litigation, products liability, antitrust, oil and gas controversies, financial services, insurance, and tax controversies, especially when the principal issue implicates underlying public policy or constitutional questions. His appellate experience includes significant cases before the Tenth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.

Leading thought on appellate procedure

Procedural practice and scholarship have been dual components of Harvey’s career. He has written extensively on Oklahoma practice and procedure affecting lawyers in both state and federal courts, co-authored major procedural treatises, and now authors and annually updates Oklahoma’s leading treatise on appellate procedure.

Advancing Oklahoma’s legal framework

Harvey’s impact on the bar also extends beyond his own cases. He has also served on bar committees to study and recommend changes to civil and appellate procedures, both at the state and federal levels.

Helping to ensure ethics and professional responsibility

Harvey has been a member of Crowe & Dunlevy’s Ethics Committee since 1983 and was Chairman of the that Committee from 2003 until 2021, advising lawyers throughout the firm on professional responsibility issues.  He has also applied his knowledge and experience of professional ethics standards governing lawyers in ethics litigation matters which contributed to Oklahoma ethics jurisprudence.

Experience

  • Hayes v. Central State Orthopedic Specialists, Inc., 2002 OK 30, 51 P.3d 562
  • Board of Regents of University of Oklahoma v. N.C.A.A., 546 F. Supp. 1276 (W.D. Okla. 1982), aff'd in part remanded in part, 707 F.2d 1147 (10th Cir. 1983), aff'd, 468 U.S. 85 (1984)
  • In Matter of College Football Association and Capital Cities/ABC, Inc., No. 9242, 5 CCH Trade Reg. Rptr. 23631 (1994)
  • Silkwood v. KerrMcGee Corp., 485 F.Supp. 566 (W.D.Okla. 1979), aff'd in part rev'd in part, 667 F.2d 908 , (10th Cir. 1981), rev'd, 464 U.S. 238 (1984), rehearing denied, 465 U.S. 1074 (1984), on remand to, 769 F.2d 1451 (10th Cir. 1985), cert. denied, 476 U.S. 1104 (1986)
  • Ethics Commission of State of Oklahoma v. Cullison, 1993 OK 37, 850 P.2d 1069
  • American Petrofina Co. of Texas v. Nance, 697 F.Supp. 1183 (W.D. Okla. 1986), aff'd, 859 F.2d 840 (10th Cir. 1988)
  • Ruyle v. Continental Oil Co., 44 F.3d 837 (10th Cir. 1994), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 906 (1995)
  • Prudential Property & Casualty Co. v. Grimes, 1986 OK 32, 725 P.2d 1246
  • Federal Land Bank of Wichita v. Story, 1988 OK 52, 756 P.2d 588
  • Berry v. State ex rel. Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System, 1989 OK 14, 768 P.2d 898
  • Homeland Stores, Inc. v. Resolution Trust Corp., 17 F.3d 1269 (10th Cir. 1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 928 (1994)
  • F.D.I.C. v. Liberty National Bank & Trust Co., 806 F.2d 961 (10th Cir. 1986)

Credentials

  • University of Oklahoma College of Law, J.D., With Honors, 1982
    • Secundum Cum Laude
    • Order of the Coif
    • Oklahoma Law Review, Judiciary Committee & Editorial Advisor
  • University of Oklahoma, B.A., 1979

  • Oklahoma
  • U.S. District Court Western District Oklahoma
  • U.S. District Court Northern District Oklahoma
  • U.S. District Court Eastern District Oklahoma
  • U.S. Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals Federal Circuit
  • U.S. Supreme Court

  • American Bar Association
  • Oklahoma Bar Association
  • Oklahoma County Bar Association
  • Civil Procedure Committee, Oklahoma Bar Association (1994 – 2000)
  • Member of Western District of Oklahoma Local Rules Committee

Honors & Awards

  • Graduated Secundum Cum Laude from University of Oklahoma College of Law
  • Oklahoma Law Review, Judiciary Committee and Editorial Advisor
  • Recipient, National Association of Legal Assistants Founder's Award for work on Amicus Curiae Brief, 2002
  • Recipient, Attorney of the Year by Central Oklahoma Association of Legal Assistants, 2002
  • Best Lawyers, Appellate Practice, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions - Defendants (2008 - Present)
  • Best Lawyers Lawyer of the Year (OKC) in Appellate Practice (2014, 2016, 2019, 2022)
  • Oklahoma Super Lawyers, Appellate, Energy & Natural Resources, Constitutional Law, Business Litigation (2011 - Present)
  • Chambers USA, Band 3 in Litigation: General Commercial

Publications & Media

  • Oklahoma Appellate Practice (Thomson Reuters/West Publishing) (co-author with Clyde Muchmore)
  • Oklahoma Civil Procedure Forms and Practice (2nd Ed. Lexis Publishing) (co-author with Clyde Muchmore)
  • Author, “Oklahoma Civil Appeals Q&A,” Practical Law, Thompson Reuters/West Publishing
  • “Oklahoma’s Collateral Order Doctrine? The Appealability of Pre-Judgment Orders After Hammonds” (co-author Alison Howard)
  • “The New Oklahoma Supreme Court Rules,” 67 Oklahoma Bar Journal 3991 (1996)
  • “The 1991 Repeal of the 1990 Judgments and Appeals Act,” 62 Oklahoma Bar Journal 2793 (1991)
  • “Constitutional Law: The Death Penalty: A Critique of the Philosophical Bases Held to Satisfy the Eighth Amendment Requirements for its Justification,” 34 Oklahoma Law Review 567 (1981)

  • Speaker, “What You Can Do Before and During Trial to Improve Your Chances of Success on Appeal,” Oklahoma Bar Association Annual Meeting, November 3, 2016, Oklahoma City, OK
  • Speaker, “Appealable Decisions and Computing Appeal Time,” Oklahoma Bar Association Appellate Procedure in Oklahoma State and Federal Courts CLE, October 25, 2013, Oklahoma City, OK