Erica N. Peterson

A former Assistant Solicitor General of West Virginia, Erica’s practice focuses on appellate and environmental litigation. In private practice, Erica assists clients with appeals before federal and state courts involving a wide range of issues, including questions of constitutional, administrative, and environmental law.

Before joining the firm, Erica served for three years in the Solicitor General’s division of the Office of the West Virginia Attorney General. In that role, she represented the State of West Virginia in administrative, constitutional, environmental, and criminal law matters before the US Supreme Court, US Courts of Appeals, and the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

Erica argued and won three cases before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and authored briefs in the US Supreme Court, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, and various US Courts of Appeals.

She also represented the State of West Virginia in high-profile challenges to environmental regulations under the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.

Erica served as a law clerk for Judge Elizabeth L. Branch of the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

• US Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes, 136 S. Ct. 1807 (2016) (counsel for 23 states as amici curiae supporting respondent’s successful position in case concerning the appealability of a determination by the US Army Corps that certain waters or lands are subject to federal jurisdiction)
• In re EPA, 803 F.3d 804 (6th Cir. 2015) (obtained nationwide stay on behalf of 18 states against “Waters of the United States” Rule)
• State v. Marcum, No. 16-0873, 2017 WL 4711422 (W. Va. Oct. 20, 2017) (achieved favorable outcome on the briefs in a criminal appeal raising four assignments of error on evidentiary rulings)
• Lloyd v. Terry, No. 16-1166, 2018 WL 1319187 (W. Va. Mar. 14, 2018) (argued successfully on behalf of the State of West Virginia for the denial of habeas corpus in a case involving alleged ineffective assistance of counsel)
• In re Clean Water Rule: Definition of “Waters of the United States,” 140 F. Supp. 3d 1340 (J.P.M.L. 2015) (part of team that defeated effort by the federal government to centralize pretrial proceedings for multiple challenges in federal district courts to rule defining the Clean Water Act’s jurisdictional term “Waters of the United States”)
• Rowan County v. Lund, 139 S. Ct. 2564 (2018) (Thomas, J., dissenting from the denial of certiorari) (counsel for 22 states as amici curiae in support of certiorari concerning constitutionality of exclusively lawmaker-led legislative prayer at a county commission meeting; the amicus brief was cited favorably in the dissent from the denial of certiorari)