OVERVIEW

Erika’s practice focuses on consumer protection, antitrust, human rights, and environmental litigation. She is especially interested in litigation that impacts the food and agriculture industry. Erika has successfully argued motions in courts throughout the country and is highly skilled in drafting compelling Complaints. She has played key roles in high‑stakes disputes, where she regularly leads discovery conferences and works closely with subject‑matter experts. Erika’s research, analysis, and advocacy have earned her recognition from clients, co‑counsel, and the courts.

During law school, Erika was a recipient of the Judge Thelton E. Henderson Prize for Outstanding Performance in the Stanford Law School Environmental Law Clinic and the Gerald Gunther Prize for Outstanding Performance in Social Responsibility, Race, Gender, and the Corporation. As a law student, Erika was involved in two environmental cases, Delacroix Corp. et al. v. Becerra and Monterey Coastkeeper et al. v. Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board et al.

Before law school, Erika led a non-profit that sought to foster collaboration between farmers, farmworkers, traders, retailers, and consumers in the United States and Canadian sustainable agriculture movement. Erika also was a Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellow, where she led community organizing for a coalition of emergency food providers and drafted agriculture policy memoranda.

Prior to joining the firm, Erika served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ivan L.R. Lemelle of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

A Brooklyn native, Erika currently resides in Manhattan. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, trying new restaurants in the city, traveling to new places, and reading the NYTimes.

EDUCATION

Stanford Law School, J.D., 2021

New York University, M.A., Food Policy, 2017

Brown University, B.A., Environmental Studies, 2014

BAR ADMISSIONS

New York

Southern District of New York

AFFILIATIONS

American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section, Ag & Food Committee Leadership (2023 - Present)

American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section, Member (2022 - Present)

Legal Aid at Work Pro Bono Project, Co-leader (2019-2020)

Stanford Black Law Students Association, Treasurer (2019-2020)

Stanford Law Review, Notes Editor (2020-2021)

WHAT OTHERS SAY

American Antitrust Institute

Outstanding Antitrust Litigation achievement in Private Law Practice in 2023 for Olean Wholesale Foods Inc. v. Bumble Bee Foods Inc

Experience

Antitrust/Competition

In re Automatic Card Shufflers Litigation. – Represents a class of casino operators that purchased automated deck shufflers at an artificially high price because of defendants’ monopolization of the market. Plaintiffs allege defendants monopolized the market for automated card shufflers through abuse of the patent system and judicial process to exclude and drive out competitors.
In re Broiler Chicken Grower Antitrust Litigation II (D. Utah): Hausfeld represents a proposed class of broiler chicken growers who allege that a cartel of vertically integrated poultry companies entered into an unlawful “No-Poach Agreement” not to solicit or hire each other’s growers in order to suppress and stabilize grower pay below competitive levels in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act and Section 202 of the Packers and Stockyards Act.

Environmental & Product Liability

City of Philadelphia v. Polymer80, Inc. and JSD Supply, Inc. - Representing the City of Philadelphia, in partnership with the Giffords Law Center, in a lawsuit against defendants Polymer80, Inc. and JSD Supply, which are among the largest suppliers of ghost guns confiscated in Philadelphia, alleging that the named distributors have contributed to the gun violence crisis and threatened the public’s right to health and safety by marketing, selling, and dispersing unserialized ghost guns into Philadelphia.

Human Rights

Padre et al. v. MVM - Hausfeld represents families that were unlawfully separated pursuant to the unconstitutional family separation policy implemented during the first Trump administration. The defendant in this class action lawsuit is MVM, Inc., the private security contractor that transported thousands of migrant children away from their parents. The plaintiffs bring human rights claims for enforced disappearance, torture, and cruel and inhumane treatment under the Alien Tort Statute, among other claims.

Erika A. Inwald