Prior to attending law school, Ellyn Polshek worked in publishing as Managing Editor at Grossman Publishers, a Division of the Viking Press, then as a Senior Editor at Holt, Rinehart and Winston and later at William Morrow. She received her JD in 1985 at the Columbia Law School.  Following graduation, she practiced law as an Assistant District Attorney in the Appeals Bureau at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.  She argued her cases before the Appellate Division in New York County and when necessary at the Court of Appeals in Albany.