Erica Ross

Prior to joining Willkie, Erica served for nearly eight years at DOJ, where she was an Assistant to the Solicitor General and a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel.

Before her government service, Erica was a partner at a global law firm, where she focused on appellate and complex litigation in areas including constitutional law, business disputes, securities, Indian law, and content, media, and entertainment.

Earlier in her career, Erica was a law clerk for Justice Elena Kagan on the U.S. Supreme Court and the Honorable David S. Tatel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. She also served as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General and as a judicial extern for The Honorable Deborah K. Chasanow on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

U.S. Department of Justice:

• The John Marshall Award for the Trial of Litigation
• The Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service
  
   

• Member, Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court
• Moot Court Panelist, Georgetown Supreme Court Institute
  
   

• Co-Author, “Oral Argument at the Supreme Court Before, During, and After the Pandemic,” Judicature, 2022
• Co-Author, “Did Liberal Justices Invent the Standing Doctrine?  An Empirical Study of the Evolution of Standing, 1921-2006,” Stanford Law Review, 2010
  
   

Representative oral arguments:

• Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Zuch (Supreme Court 2025): Successfully briefed and argued case concerning federal Tax Court jurisdiction.
• Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer (Supreme Court 2023): Successfully briefed and argued case raising Article III standing and mootness issues.
• Bartenwerfer v. Buckley (Supreme Court 2023): Successfully briefed and argued bankruptcy case concerning question of statutory interpretation.
• Tyler v. Hennepin County (Supreme Court 2023): Successfully briefed and argued case regarding the Takings Clause of the Constitution.
• Denezpi v. United States (Supreme Court 2022): Successfully briefed and argued case at the intersection of Indian law and the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Constitution.
• (Supreme Court 2020): Successfully briefed and argued case raising questions of contract interpretation and federal maritime law.
• Opati v. Republic of Sudan (Supreme Court 2020): Successfully briefed and argued case regarding the availability of punitive damages under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
• U.S. Patent & Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V. (Supreme Court 2020):  Briefed and argued case concerning the Lanham Act and the availability of trademark protection for certain online businesses.
• Ciarpaglini v. United States (7th Circuit 2016): Successfully briefed and argued Medicaid case raising mootness issue.
• Abdelfattah v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (D.C. Circuit 2015): Appointed by the court as amicus curiae; successfully briefed and argued case including Fair Credit Reporting Act claim.
• United States v. Barraza (5th Circuit 2011): Successfully briefed and argued case challenging wire fraud and false statement convictions of former state court judge.

Other representative matters:

• Primary author of the U.S. government’s successful briefs in numerous high-profile Supreme Court cases, including FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (2024; Article III standing); Moore v. Harper (2023; independent state legislature theory); 2023 case involving social media companies’ liability for terrorist attacks under the Antiterrorism Act; and NCAA v. Alston (2021; challenge to limitations on payments to student athletes under the Sherman Act).
• Represented bank in federal and state trial and appellate courts in a series of cases involving residential mortgage-backed securities.
• Represented media company in trial court and on appeal in case raising issues of contract interpretation and ownership of social media “likes.”
• Represented music industry organization in D.C. Circuit in case challenging rates set by Copyright Royalty Board.
• Provided strategic and litigation advice to DOJ officials as a member of DOJ’s Indian Civil Litigation Working Group and Reproductive Rights Task Force.

_{*Erica advised on these matters prior to joining Willkie.}