Erika Jacobsen White
Erika Jacobsen White
Principal
Erika Jacobsen White is client-centered and practices trauma informed lawyering. She believes that access to justice happens both inside and outside of the courtroom, and that a good lawyer helps their 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, 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 Board Secretary of First Shift Justice Project’s, on the Board of the D.C. Trial Lawyers Association, as well as on the Maryland State Bar Association’s Labor & Employment Law Council.
She is a past president of the Alameda-Contra Costa Trial Lawyers’ Association, Co-founder of the New Lawyers Division of the Consumer Attorneys of California, and a member of the American Association for Justice, Public Justice, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, and the Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association.
Erika has lectured and written on employment discrimination, social justice, and civil rights issues extensively, and is a frequent speaker at community events, universities, and high schools on civil rights issues. In 2016, she taught as an Adjunct Professor at San Francisco State University’s Criminal Justice Studies Program.
Erika has been repeatedly recognized by her colleagues because of her dedication to fighting for her clients, as well as for her commitment to fighting for equality and diversity in the legal profession. She is the 2014 recipient of the Minority Bar Coalition’s “Unity Award;” the recipient of the 2013 Consumer Attorneys of California, “New Lawyers Division Legacy Award;” the 2010 Consumer Attorneys of California Presidential Award of Merit. Erika has also been recognized as a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” from 2012-2017, and a Super Lawyer from 2018-2019.
In the NEWS
Education
- University of Virginia, B.A., 2000
- University of California, Hastings College of the Law, Visiting Student, Spring 2007
- Suffolk University Law School, J.D., 2007
Bar Admissions
- California, 2007
- Maryland, 2020
- Washington, D.C., 2020
Court Admissions
- U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court, Maryland
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
- Appellate Court of Maryland
- Supreme Court of Maryland
Professional Affiliations
- American Association for Justice
- Public Justice
- D.C. Trial Lawyers Association
- Virginia Trial Lawyers Association
- Maryland State Bar Association
- Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association
- California Employment 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; Chair, Diversity Committee’s Law Academy Subcommittee, 2014-2016
- First Shift Justice Project, Secretary of the Board, 2020
- First Shift Justice Project, Secretary of the Board, 2020, Board Vice-President, 2023
Selected Speaking Engagements & Articles
- MCLE Speaker, ACCTLA: Navigating Disability in the Workplace, May 15, 2019
- San Francisco State University, Adjunct Professor, CJ 550: School Violence and Discipline, Fall 2016
- MCLE Speaker, American Association for Justice Convention, Montreal, Canada, Mediating Employment Cases, July 2015
- MCLE Speaker, Consumer Attorneys of California Convention, Depositions in Employment Cases: Tips for New Lawyers or Lawyers New to Employment Law, November 16, 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, March 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
Awards
- Top Attorney 2023, Bethesda Magazine - MoCo360
- SuperLawyers "Northern California SuperLawyer" 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
- Consumer Attorneys of California, New Lawyers Division Chair Award of Merit, 2012 & 2014
- Consumer Attorneys of California, Presidential Award of Merit, 2010