Staff Biographies

Legal Assistants

Interns

Sally Ellyson
Legal Assistant

Sally Ellyson is a legal assistant in the New York office of Sanford Wittels & Heisler, LLP.

Sally Ellyson is a graduate of Columbia University and the Paralegal Studies Program at Fairleigh Dickinson University.  She worked in executive level positions at several book publishing companies for many years.  She concentrated on book production and manufacturing, especially paper purchasing.  She was involved in many contract negotiations for the various publishers.  She became a paralegal as a second career and is currently the primary paralegal at Sanford Wittels & Heisler on the Vioxx litigation.

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Cara Farber
Legal Assistant

Cara Farber is a legal assistant in the Washington, DC office of Sanford Wittels & Heisler, LLP.

Ms. Farber graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy and Education. While at Brown, Ms. Farber taught workshops for and coordinated the Peer HIV/AIDS and Sex Education program for at-risk Providence youth. She spent a semester in Spain studying at the University of Salamanca and traveled to the Dominican Republic for a sustainable community development project.

Ms. Farber interned at the Nassau County Family Court and is very passionate about children's rights issues. Her interests also include tennis, soccer, and traveling.

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Sean Garcia
Legal Assistant

Sean Garcia is a Legal Assistant in the New York office of Sanford Wittels & Heisler, LLP.

Mr. Garcia graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology. While attending Brown, Mr. Garcia was actively involved in Brown Student Radio as a DJ, Music Director, and Fundraiser. He was also an Assistant Producer on the first season of BSR’s “Not Your Classroom,” which aired on WRNI, Rhode Island’s National Public Radio syndicate. During Mr. Garcia’s final semester at Brown, he participated in the Swearer Center’s Winter Breaks Project where he focused on Providence’s homeless issues. His interest in the closing of Rhode Island’s largest shelter, Welcome Arnold, lead him to film a documentary on the impact of its demolition on the state’s homeless population.

Mr. Garcia plans to attend law school in the future.

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Kate Gillespie
Legal Assistant

Kate Gillespie is a legal assistant in the Washington, DC office of Sanford Wittels & Heisler, LLP.

Ms. Gillespie graduated magna cum laude from Davidson College in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English with Honors. She was also a French minor and spent a semester studying abroad in Paris and in Tours. While at Davidson, Ms. Gillespie served as news editor of her school newspaper and was active in her eating house as service chair and as kitchen manager. She was also involved in several community service projects: an after-school tutoring program for local elementary-school children and a cooking class for mentally disabled young adults.

Ms. Gillespie has previously interned with a non-profit children’s law center and a real estate law firm in Charlotte, North Carolina. She is also particularly interested in Gothic and Romantic literature in late eighteenth-century England and wrote her honors thesis on William Wordsworth’s appropriation of Gothic conventions. She plans to attend law school or graduate school in English.

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Jacquelyn Julie
Legal Assistant

Jacquelyn Julie is a legal assistant in the New York office of Sanford Wittels & Heisler, LLP.

Jacquelyn Julie attended New York University where she majored in Psychology and minored in Linguistics. She was involved in animal rights advocacy and avocational dramatic arts, participating in college and Community Theater. Jacquelyn’s favorite roles include Nora from Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs, Helena from William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and, most recently, Dawn from Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero. After working as the Marketing Manager for Open Hart Productions, a Yiddishist and Jewish themed original cabaret, she is excited to join the Manhattan office of Sanford Wittels & Heisler. Eventually, Jacquelyn plans to attend a PhD program in Psychology.

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Megan McFadden
Legal Assistant

Megan McFadden is a legal assistant in the Washington, DC office of Sanford Wittels & Heisler, LLP.

Ms. McFadden graduated summa cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Spanish.  While at Washington University, Ms. McFadden sang in the Concert Choir, volunteered as a tutor for Hispanic youth, and traveled to two National Tournaments as a member of the Mock Trial team. She also worked on the Spenser Digital Archive, preparing Edmund Spenser’s texts for online publication and doing research for the editorial commentary that will accompany them.  Ms. McFadden spent a semester studying abroad in Madrid, Spain where she took classes at a university and worked with elementary-aged children at an after-school program. 

Ms. McFadden’s post-college interests include reading, running, and exploring DC.  She plans to attend graduate school in the future.

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Luke Parker
Legal Assistant

Luke Parker is a legal assistant in the Washington, DC office of Sanford Wittels & Heisler, LLP.

Mr. Parker graduated from Vassar College with General Honors and with Departmental Honors in Philosophy and in Greek Language and Literature. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in the spring of his senior year. At Vassar, he served as a research assistant and intern for the Classics Department and as an Editor for the Vassar Philosophy Review. Mr. Parker was also involved in house builds with the Vassar chapter of Habitat for Humanity. In the spring of 2007, he was awarded a fellowship to participate in the joint American-Greek archaeological excavations in Kenchreai, Greece. A four-year member of the Vassar College Rugby Football Club, Mr. Parker has traveled to play rugby in Argentina, England, France, and the Bahamas.

Mr. Parker currently plays rugby for Potomac Athletic Club, and volunteers through Greater DC Cares.

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Sarah Siegel
Legal Assistant

Sarah Siegel is a legal assistant in the Washington, D.C. office of Sanford, Wittels & Heisler, LLP.

Ms. Siegel graduated from Vassar College with honors; she holds a degree in History with a minor in the History of Philosophy. Her previous legal experience includes internships at the New York State Division for Human Rights and the Federal Defenders of New York. Before pursuing her interest in law, she worked as an assistant teacher at the International Rescue Committee, a field manager for New York’s Working Families Party, a research assistant in Bloomington, Indiana, an educational consultant for Democracy Prep Charter School in Harlem, a Goldman Fellow at the Belfer Center for Pluralism and Democracy, and traveled to London to perform grant-winning research for her senior thesis. Her writing has been published in an undergraduate research journal, the Vassar campus newspaper, where she was the Life editor, and the College Democrats magazine, where she was the Editor-in-Chief. In her time at Vassar, she also worked as a writing intern and sang in the Women’s Chorus.

In her spare time, she enjoys exploring D.C., reading Iris Murdoch’s books, and singing when no-one else is in the elevator.

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Emmanuel Wittels
Legal Assistant

Emmanuel Wittels is a legal assistant in the New York office of Sanford Wittels & Heisler, LLP.

Mr. Wittels has four years of experience as a legal assistant with diverse duties that include preparation of medical authorizations, retainers, closing statements, affidavit of service and tables with late fee charges.

Prior to becoming a legal assistant, Mr. Wittels developed a broad and diversified business background. In England , he founded the Redifon Computer Division of Rediffusion, a top-ten British firm. In the USA , Mr. Wittels Founded the Wordstream Division of Avionic Products. He created and designed the Wordstream Word Processing System used by major Banks, Insurance, and Fortune 500 companies. Also in the USA , Mr. Wittels founded the Auragen Corp. featuring fault-tolerant computer systems. Mr. Wittels has also been associated with IBM, General Electric, and Bell Laboratories in various management and supervisory capacities including project management, software development, system design, and development.

Mr. Wittels studied theater at HB Studios in New York. Work included playwriting, screenwriting, and acting including scenes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, The Tempest, Richard III: Arthur Miller’s Death of Salesman and View from the Bridge. Mr. Wittels earned a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering from the College of the City of New York and has taken graduate courses at Columbia, Syracuse, and NYU Universities. He is also a U.S. Navy veteran.

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Heather Park
Intern

Heather Park is a legal intern at the New York office of Sanford Wittels & Heisler, LLP.

Ms. Park is a senior at New York University with a double major in journalism and sociology. Her legal interests are in gender equality and human rights issues. Ms. Park’s advanced reporting capstone project covered female prison issues and voting disenfranchisement. She has also lobbied for women prisoners’ rights in Albany, New York. While at NYU, she has interned at several media publications, including Jane Magazine, AM-NY, Colorado Daily, and Skiing Magazine. Ms. Park has also been involved in STAND-Students Taking Action Now Darfur.

Outside of the Sanford Wittels & Heisler offices, you will mostly likely find Ms. Park reading at a local coffee shop, making pseudo-intellectual remarks at an art museum, or shopping in SoHo. Last year, she spent a semester studying abroad in Paris, France.

Ms. Park plans to attend law school in the near future.

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