Erika Jacobsen White

Principal

Erika Jacobsen White

Erika Jacobsen White practices client-centered trauma informed lawyering. She believes that access to justice happens both inside and outside of the courtroom, and that a good lawyer helps clients feel empowered in the face of a system that is often stacked against them.

Erika practices in the areas of employment discrimination, sexual abuse, civil rights, wage and hour, class action, and whistleblower/qui tam matters. Erika also handles executive employment agreements, severance and non-compete agreements. Her career-long commitment to representing real people facing tough challenges in their lives has resulted in significant results for her clients at trial, mediation, and arbitration – recovering millions of dollars for her clients over the course of her career.

Erika joined Joseph Greenwald & Laake after serving as the Principal of Jacobsen White Law, P.C. in Oakland, California. She is a leader in the employment bar and currently serves on the United States District Court of Maryland’s Fee Petition Appendix B Subcommittee, as a member of the Board of the Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association, on the D.C. Bar’s Labor & Employment Steering Committee, on the Board of the DC Trial Lawyers Association, and is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association’s Labor & Employment Law Council.

  • Appellate Court of Maryland
  • California
  • Maryland
  • Supreme Court of Maryland
  • US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California
  • US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • US District Court for the District of Maryland
  • US District Court for the Eastern District of California
  • US District Court for the Northern District of California
  • Washington DC

  • Suffolk University Law School, JD, 2007
  • University of California, Hastings College of the Law, Visiting Student, Spring 2007
  • University of Virginia, BA, 2000

  • Best Lawyers®, Litigation – Labor & Employment
  • Maryland’s Employment Law Power Players, The Daily Record, 2024
  • Bethesda Magazine Top Attorneys, Employment (employee), 2023
  • Super Lawyers®
    • Northern California Super Lawyer®, 2018-2020
    • Northern California Rising Star, 2012-2017
  • Minority Bar Coalition & Alameda-Contra Costa Trial Lawyers’ Association Unity Award, 2014
  • Consumer Attorneys of California
    • New Lawyers Division Legacy Award, 2013
    • New Lawyers Division Chair Award of Merit, 2012, 2014
  • Consumer Attorneys of California, Presidential Award of Merit, 2010

  • First Shift Justice Project
    • Board Chair, 2024
    • Board Vice-Chair, 2023
    • Secretary of the Board, 2020
  • Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA)
    • Board Member, Employment & Labor Council
  • DC Trial Lawyers Association
    • Board Member, 2023-2024
  • DC Bar Association
    • Labor & Employment Law Steering Committee Member
  • US District Court of Maryland
    • Member, Fee Petition Appendix B Subcommittee
  • Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association
    • Board Member
  • National Employment Lawyers’ Association
  • American Association for Justice
  • Virginia Trial Lawyers Association
  • Alameda-Contra Costa County Trial Lawyers’ Association (Oakland, CA)
    • President, 2019
    • Board Member, 2012-present
    • Editor, The Verdict Magazine, 2015
  • Consumer Attorneys of California
    • Co-Founder/Chair, New Lawyers Division, 2010-2011

 

  • Panelist, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Journal of Race, Religion, Gender & Class Symposium, “Equal Pay,” 2024
  • Panelist, ABA Labor & Employment Law Conference, “Lawyer Wellness: Why Are We All So Cranky?,” 2024
  • Speaker, National Employment Lawyers’ Association Annual Convention, “Courageous Plaintiff’s Award for Officer Mark Miles for Miles v. Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission,” 2024
  • MCLE Speaker, ACCTLA: Navigating Disability in the Workplace, 2019
  • San Francisco State University, Adjunct Professor, “CJ 550: School Violence and Discipline,” 2016
  • MCLE Speaker, American Association for Justice Convention, Montreal, Canada, “Mediating Employment Cases,” 2015
  • MCLE Speaker, Consumer Attorneys of California Convention, “Depositions in Employment Cases: Tips for New Lawyers or Lawyers New to Employment Law,” 2014
  • Mentor, De Anza High School, Law Academy Program of the State Bar of California, 2013-2016, 2018
  • University of California, Berkeley Law School
    • Restorative Justice Training, 2014
    • Panel Moderator and Speaker, “Arbitration After Concepcion,” 2013
    • Speaker on Consumer/Employment Law, 2012-2015
  • Speaker, Careers in Employment Law
    • Golden Gate University School of Law, 2013
    • University of San Francisco School of Law, 2013
    • McGeorge School of Law, 2011
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