OVERVIEW

Erika’s practice focuses on environmental, antitrust, and consumer protection litigation. During law school, Erika gained a wide range of experience arguing motions in court, drafting complaints and briefs, and performing legal research. While in 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. In Delacroix Corp. et al. v. Becerra, Erika represented environmental non-profit organizations that sought to intervene as defendants in a suit against California. Louisiana state agencies and corporations sued California to block enforcement of a crocodilian trade ban, claiming that the ban was preempted by the Endangered Species Act and violated the dormant Commerce Clause. Erika successfully argued for her clients’ intervention as of right. In Monterey Coastkeeper et al. v. Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board et al., Erika argued a writ of mandate in California Superior Court on behalf of environmental non-profit organizations, asserting state water policy violates nonpoint source regulations.

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.

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

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.

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