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
- “Pregnant? Your Employer Must Provide Accommodations,” The Washington Family Magazine (and in affiliate publication, MetroKids Magazine), 2024
- Quoted in “Employee Rights Groups Back Worker’s FMLA Fight,” Law360, 2023
- JGL Partner to work City of Peace event
- Quoted in “Officers Said They Hoped Black Lives Matters Protesters Would Die, Suit Says,” New York Times, 2022
- Quoted in “Maryland park police officers said they wanted Black Lives Matter protesters dead, according to lawsuit,” CNN, 2022
- Quoted in “Police Officials ‘Frequently Talked About Killing BLM Protesters’: Lawsuit,” 97.9 WJLB, 2022
- Quoted in “Black Police Officer’s Lawsuit Against Department Alleges Cops Talked About Killing Black Lives Matter Protesters,” Complex, 2022
- Quoted in “New plaintiff claims Liberty University mishandled sexual assault report,” 2022
- 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
