Erica Lai
Counsel, Washington, D.C.
Erica Lai is a commercial litigator focused on antitrust, class actions, and white collar defense. She has counseled corporate and governmental clients litigating at all levels of federal and state trial and appellate courts, and federal agency proceedings. Erica’s broad litigation experience includes class action allegations of price-fixing under the Sherman Act, commercial contractual disputes in the financial services, utility, and railroad industries, and False Claims Act and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act defense. She has litigated cases in areas including environmental remediation, financial services, health care services and benefits, longshore labor, public utilities, and transportation.
Erica has extensive pro bono experience in cases involving immigration issues, civil rights, and reproductive justice before federal district courts and courts of appeal, and advocacy to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Erica’s advocacy extends beyond litigation to advising clients on proposed legislation, bills before Congress, government relations initiatives, and congressional investigations, including helping secure congressional resolutions acknowledging the injustice of the Chinese exclusion laws.
Prior to joining the firm, Erica was a senior Litigation and Public Policy and Government Affairs associate at Covington & Burling LLP. Erica clerked for the Honorable John M. Walker, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the Honorable Michael M. Baylson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In 2008, she served as a Law Clerk for the United States Senate Judiciary Committee.
Erica graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was on the Editorial Board of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. She also has a Public Policy Analysis Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Pomona College.
Erica Lai is a commercial litigator focused on antitrust, class actions, and white collar defense. She has counseled corporate and governmental clients litigating at…
Education
University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D., cum laude, 2008); Pomona College (B.A., magna cum laude, 2005).
Bar Admissions
District of Columbia; State of California; Commonwealth of Virginia; U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California; U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Activities and Affiliations
Board Member, Vice President of Education, and Former Member of Policy and Advocacy, and Nominations Committees, Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, D.C. Area
Board Member, Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center
Legal Advisory Board Member, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
Member, American Bar Association
Affiliate Member, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
Member, Women’s White Collar Defense Association
Antitrust & Other Complex Commercial Litigation
Represents direct purchasers in multidistrict antitrust litigation alleging a worldwide price-fixing conspiracy in the automobile parts industry.
Represented companies seeking to recover break-up fee following the termination of a merger agreement between two digital security and surveillance businesses.
Defended international shipping company in class action suit alleging violations of the Sherman and Clayton Acts and state antitrust laws, resulting in Third Circuit decision affirming dismissal of claims as preempted by the Shipping Act.
Secured jury verdict in favor of multinational energy company after three-week trial involving environmental liabilities.
Obtained dismissal of copyright infringement and breach of contract claims relating to a leading pharmaceutical drug, and subsequent appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Read MoreWhite Collar Defense
Represented corporations in U.S. Department of Justice Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation and false claims act cases.
Counseled state agency in False Claims Act case involving private hospitals alleged to have overcharged for Medicaid services provided in the state.
Government Affairs
Secured congressional resolutions acknowledging the injustice of 19th and 20th century laws expressly discriminating against persons of Chinese descent.
Represented coalition of renewable energy companies on legislation to expand master limited partnership tax structure to renewable energy companies.
Represented corporate, governmental, and non-profit clients on immigration legislation to expand access to highly skilled work visas, trade and investment visas, and family-based visas.
Pro Bono
Briefed and argued appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, successfully challenging the dismissal of an inmate’s section 1983 action.
On behalf of the National Women’s Law Center and over 35 other women’s organizations, filed an amici brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to confirm that Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination in the workplace does not exclude lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workers.
On behalf of the National Women’s Law Center and over 30 other national organizations, filed an amici brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit challenging the insufficient remedies awarded to the first transgender employee in the country to secure a jury verdict of employment discrimination and retaliation under Title VII.
On behalf of the Innocence Network and Pennsylvania Innocence Project, helped persuade the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to allow evidence of a convicted individual’s actual innocence that was not presented to the trial court to act as a gateway to merits consideration of otherwise time-barred habeas claims.
On behalf of law historians, filed amici briefs in federal district and appellate courts regarding the definition of “emoluments” used in the Constitution.
Read MoreC&G helped secure a victory in a case alleging that President Trump violated the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the Constitution by accepting benefits from foreign governments without seeking and obtaining congressional consent. C&G represents five legal historians who filed an amicus brief citing extensive historical sources demonstrating that the Founding Founders shared the plaintiffs’ definition of emoluments. Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, in denying Trump’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, expressly stated that “[t]he Court appreciates the illuminating analysis provided by the amici,” and that “Amici Legal Historians soundly reject the President’s narrow definition of Emolument as inaccurate, unrepresentative, and misleading.”
The National Law Journal published a piece about the importance of our clients’ amicus brief, mentioning Cohen & Gresser’s role, and quoting Washington, D.C. Managing Partner, Melissa Maxman, linked here.
This is the second time a district judge has relied in large part upon our legal historian clients’ brief in construing the Emoluments Clause.
Christian R Everdell has been promoted to partner, and Joanna K Chan, Erica Lai, and David F Lisner have been promoted to counsel.
"Congratulations and thanks to each of these exceptional attorneys for their commitment to excellence, integrity, and superb client service. We are very fortunate to have them," said Managing Partner, Lawrence T Gresser.
C&G welcomes the associates who joined the firm in 2016. "Our new associates are excellent lawyers and wonderful additions to the firm," said Managing Partner Lawrence T Gresser.
In this C&G Client Alert, Melissa H Maxman, Ronald F Wick, Erica Lai, and Danielle Morello discuss the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) announcement that it will now consider crediting companies for “robust” compliance programs at the charging stage of criminal antitrust investigations. This signals a reversal of the DOJ’s longstanding policy of allowing substantial penalty reductions only for “early-in” whistleblowers.
On June 5, 2019, Erica Lai moderated a panel about birthright citizenship and other immigration issues impacting the Asian American community. Speakers included John Yang (Asian Americans Advancing Justice), Karen Narasaki (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights), and Neal Katyal (Hogan Lovells and former Acting U.S. Solicitor General), as well as Shalin Nohria (Hogan Lovells). Held at Hogan Lovells’ D.C. office, the event was co-sponsored by the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, D.C. Area (APABA-DC) and other local minority bar associations.
University of Pennsylvania Law School 14th Annual APALSA Conference, Philadelphia PA
National Asian Pacific American Bar Association 4th Annual Convention, Washington DC