He is a partner at the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where he is co-chair of its litigation department.
He worked in private practice for the law firms of Paul Hastings and Lowenstein Sandler before joining Paul Weiss, during which time he became known for his representation of public and political figures, including Dick Cheney aide Scooter Libby, labor official Raymond Donovan, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy, financiers Michael Milken and Frank Quattrone, along with governors Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson.
After deciding to focus more on academics, he chose to attend the College of the Holy Cross instead, retracting his initial commitment to Pittsburgh.
"[16] After clerking at the Third Circuit, Wells moved to California to join the law firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker in Los Angeles, where he stayed briefly for ten days.
[17] In addition to becoming well-known in New Jersey, Wells' representation of U.S. Secretary of Labor Raymond Donovan while at Lowenstein Sandler gave him national attention as a prominent defense attorney.
[20] Wells represented Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Jr.,[18] who was convicted on March 6, 2007, in the CIA leak grand jury investigation for perjury, obstruction of justice, and lying to the FBI.
[22] Some of Wells' more notable clients include Michael Espy, Senator Robert Torricelli,[18] and Congressman Floyd Flake.
In November 2013, the National Football League hired Wells to prepare a report on a bullying incident with the Miami Dolphins involving Richie Incognito.
In 2015, Ted Wells was again hired by the NFL, this time to investigate the New England Patriots' alleged "Deflategate" infractions.
[29] Eventually, Judge Richard Berman overturned Tom Brady's suspension in the Deflategate saga that had been based on Wells's report; however the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated it in 2016.