Counsel
Eric A. White
Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Supreme Court & Appellate, ERISA Litigation
Overview
Eric A. White is counsel in Mayer Brown’s Washington DC office and a member of the firm’s Supreme Court & Appellate practice and its ERISA Litigation practice. Eric focuses on appellate litigation and dispositive motions in trial court. He is also frequently called upon to analyze issues related to the administration of plan assets and fiduciary responsibilities under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Over the last decade, Eric has briefed dozens of cases in the US Supreme Court, at the certiorari stage and on the merits, and in nearly every US court of appeals. Eric has argued several times before the US courts of appeals, the Texas Supreme Court and Texas’ intermediate appellate courts. His cases have run the spectrum of legal issues, including those involving administrative, antitrust, constitutional, contract, criminal, employment, energy, environmental and intellectual property law, as well as those raising complex ERISA, preemption, sovereign immunity and tax issues.
Before joining Mayer Brown, Eric served as an assistant solicitor general in the Office of the Texas Solicitor General, where he represented the State of Texas in its most important appellate litigation and advised senior state officials on critical legal issues. Eric clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He received his law degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was an articles editor on the law review. He earned his undergraduate degree, cum laude and with distinction in the major, from Yale University.
Experience
Recent Appeals Briefed & Argued:
- Wilcox v. Georgetown Univ. (D.C. Cir. 2020) (ERISA)
- Boltex Mfg. Co. v. Ulma Piping USA Corp. (5th Cir. 2020) (Lanham Act)
- Marshall v. Commissioner (S. Ct. 2020) (Amicus) (Federal Tax)
- Adekeye v. Davis (5th Cir. 2019) (Federal Habeas)*
- Alamo Nat’l Bldg. Mgmt. LP v. Hegar (Tex. Ct. App. & Tex. S. Ct. 2019) (State Tax)
- Anaya v. Davis (5th Cir. 2019) (Federal Habeas)
- Atamian v. Brown (5th Cir. 2019) (Employment; Qualified Immunity)
- Daves v. Dallas County (5th Cir. 2019) (Due Process Clause; Equal Protection)
- Harrison County. v. Hyde (Tex. Ct. App. 2019) (Administrative; Environmental)*
- In re D.S. (Tex. S. Ct. 2019) (Amicus) (Family Law)
- In re Geomet Recycling LLC (Tex. S. Ct. 2019) (Amicus) (Texas Anti-SLAPP Statute)*
- Texas v. Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Tex. (5th Cir. 2019) (Indian Gaming Regulatory Act)*
- Texas v. United States (5th Cir. 2019) (Taxing Power; Severability; Standing)
- Texas Dep’t of Criminal Justice v. Rangel (Tex. S. Ct. 2019) (Texas Tort Claims Act)*
- Gamble v. United States (S. Ct. 2018) (Amicus) (Double Jeopardy Clause)
- Lopez-Aguilar v. Marion Cnty. Sheriff’s Dep’t (7th Cir. 2018) (Amicus) (Preemption)
- Sause v. Bauer (S. Ct. 2018) (Amicus) (Free Exercise Clause)
- SEC v. First Choice Mgmt. Servs. Inc. (7th Cir. 2018) (Energy; Federal Receivership; Sovereign Immunity)*
- Wilkerson v. Univ. of N. Texas (5th Cir. 2018) (Employment; Qualified Immunity)*
- Acker v. Davis (5th Cir. 2017) (Federal Habeas)
- Cmty. Health Sys. Prof’l Servs. Corp. v. Hansen (Tex. S. Ct. 2017) (Amicus) (Contract Law)
- Democratic Exec. Comm. of Fla. v. Detnzer (11th Cir. 2017) (Amicus) (Preemption)
- Jessop v. Palmer (Tex. Ct. App. 2017) (Condemnation; Land Use)*
- Jimenez v. Hunter (5th Cir. 2017) (Federal Habeas)*
- United States v. California (9th Cir. 2017) (Amicus) (Preemption)
- U.S. Conference of Mayors v. Sessions (7th Cir. 2017) (Amicus) (Preemption)
- Walker v. Texas (S. Ct. 2017) (Double Jeopardy Clause)
* Argued
Education
- University of Michigan Law School, JD, magna cum laude
Order of the Coif - Yale University, BA, cum laude
Admissions
- District of Columbia
- Texas
- California
Courts
- US Supreme Court
- US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
- US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
- US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit