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 currently serves as the Chair of the Board for First Shift Justice Project, 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
- Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association
- 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
- 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
