Profile

Education

  • Georgetown University Law Center, JD, 1999
  • University of California at Los Angeles, BA, 1995

Erik is a partner in the San Francisco office. His practice focuses on insurance coverage including cyber and tech E&O, D&O and other professional liability, general liability, marine, energy, healthcare and property. In addition to litigating a wide range of disputed coverage claims, Erik also counsels London Market and other insurers on monitoring and settling underlying litigation by third parties, scope of coverage and advice on wordings.

Erik regularly handles cybersecurity incidents affecting businesses worldwide. This includes response to system intrusions resulting in breach of privacy and damage to/encryption of data, and handling resulting regulatory and PCI-DSS compliance matters.

Erik has particular skill defending clients in transportation-related litigation, including in the aviation and marine contexts, defense of professionals, and over 20 years of experience with a wide variety of major commercial litigation in federal and state trial and appellate courts.

Erik was seconded to the financial institutions team of a major Lloyd’s managing agent, and is an active member of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS), and the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM).

Qualifications and admissions

  • California
  • District of Columbia
  • New York
  • Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales
  • US District Court for the Central, Eastern, Northern, and Southern Districts of California
  • US District Court, District of Colorado
  • US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Market recognition

  • Recommended lawyer for ‘Insurance: Advice to Insurers in United States’ The Legal 500 US (2021)

Presentations and publications

  • “California Fair Claims Handling Seminar,” In-House Client Training (Ongoing)
  • Co-author, “Just add water—why relating back does not put the insurer on notice of bad faith,” published for Kennedys (June 2023)
  • Co-author, “Ninth Circuit rules that California Insurance Code § 533 bars coverage for a settled malicious prosecution lawsuit,” published for Kennedys (April 2023)
  • “US Maritime Law and Claims Overview,” In-House Client Training (February 2023)
  • “The State of Bad Faith in Florida, Georgia, Missouri, California and Washington,” In-House Client Training (February 2023)
  • “Cyber Insurance in Commercial Contracts,” presented for Stafford Publications (January 2023)
  • “Kennedys US Cyber Team Capabilities + Current trends discussion,” In-House Client Training (July 2022)
  • “2022 CA Claims Handling Seminar,” In-House Client Training (January 2022)
  • Co-author, “Liability Under California’s Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) Expanded by California Supreme Court Decision,” published for Kennedys (October 2021)
  • Co-author, “Potential insurance issues arising from corporate forum shopping for favourable data protection laws,” published for Kennedys (February 2021)
  • “Vine to wine, and the fire in between: the growing insurance implications of the California wildfires” presented at International Underwriting Association, London (March 2020)