Erin Bernstein

Erin's current practice focuses on litigations involving public health, environmental accountability and issues facing consumers. She also represents individuals who contend Roundup® exposure contributed to non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other cancers. Erin is active in the litigation around related to Oxbryta® (voxelotor), the sickle cell disease treatment that has been linked to serious health risks. 

Beyond her work on behalf of individual clients, Erin advises public entities in complex litigation aimed at addressing threats to public health and protecting communities. Matters include lead paint remediation and cases examining the potential health effects of BPA exposure from microplastics, including alleged endocrine, reproductive and developmental harms. 

Prior to entering private practice, Erin served in senior litigation leadership roles with the City of Oakland and the San Francisco City Attorney's Office, where she helped lead affirmative litigation and civil enforcement matters on behalf of local governments. As Supervising Deputy City Attorney for Oakland's Community Lawyering & Civil Rights Enforcement Unit, and previously as a Deputy City Attorney in San Francisco's Complex and Affirmative Litigation Team, she litigated and supervised cases involving consumer law, data privacy, housing, healthcare, First Amendment issues, reproductive rights, and other novel legal challenges. Her public service leadership included serving as Chair of San Francisco's Privacy and Data Task Force and Executive Director of the Affirmative Litigation Task Force. 

Following law school, Erin clerked for Judge Robert J. Timlin of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and later for Justice Carlos R. Moreno of the California Supreme Court. 

In addition to her litigation practice, Erin teaches the next generation of lawyers as a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where she co-teaches a course on state and local impact litigation, and also at University of California School of Law, San Francisco, where she teaches local government law. She previously served as a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School and continues to return as a guest instructor.

*Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.