Erica Holzer to Be Honored with the Wallace-Lerner Award by Mitchell Hamline Law Review

Maslon is pleased to announce that Erica Holzer, partner in the firm's Litigation Group, will be honored with the Wallace-Lerner Award by the Mitchell Hamline Law Review. The Wallace-Lerner Award for Excellence in Leadership honors those whose service to the legal profession reflects the values of the law review: community, communication, and collaboration. Every year Mitchell Hamline Law Review selects two alumni who exemplify these values.

Erica will be presented with this award at the 2021 Annual Banquet, held virtually on Friday, May 21. Past honorees include renowned Maslon attorney David Herr, who in 2008 received the Marcy Wallace Award—previously given to William Mitchell alumni before the combination of William Mitchell College of Law and Hamline University School of Law.

Erica represents clients in complex commercial disputes primarily in the areas of tort and product liability, consumer fraud, business torts, and breach of contract actions. Erica's product liability defense work spans many industries, with particular experience in FDA-approved medical devices, representing a major medical device manufacturer in federal and state courts throughout the country. She has also developed specialized experience providing advice and compliance support to government contractors and companies on public law issues, particularly state and federal open records laws, including the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act and the federal Freedom of Information Act.

Erica is also an experienced appellate attorney. She has argued before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and has authored, co-authored, and edited dozens of appellate briefs, and she is frequently sought out to provide advice on appeals in the Eighth Circuit and the appellate courts of Minnesota. Erica is co-author of the leading treatise on Minnesota appellate law, and authors a chapter in the Eighth Circuit Appellate Practice Manual. She also serves as a member of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Minnesota Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure, as Vice Chair of the Minnesota State Bar Association's Appellate Practice Section, and as a Board Member of the Minnesota Supreme Court Historical Society.

Maslon clients regularly comment that they view Erica not only as a sophisticated lawyer and trusted legal advisor, but also as a valuable business partner. Her strategic instincts and exceptional writing abilities have secured key wins for clients, both at the trial level and on appeal. Erica's successes as a litigator and appellate advocate were recently recognized by the MSBA, which named her as Minnesota's "2018 Outstanding New Lawyer of the Year" and Minnesota Lawyer, which named her as one of Minnesota's "Up and Coming" Attorneys in 2018.

Erica is deeply committed to advancing equality and justice—for the LGBTQ+ community and other marginalized and underrepresented communities—and has served in a wide range of capacities to do so. She regularly devotes several hundred hours each year to pro bono work on behalf of the Innocence Project of Minnesota, individual pro bono clients, and the MSBA. As a result of her significant efforts, Erica was named by Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal as a 2020 "Business of Pride" Honoree as well as a 2021 "Best LGBTQ+ Lawyer Under 40" by the National LGBT Bar Association.