The three lawyers who came together in early 2020 to launch class action boutique Erickson Kramer Osborne LLP in San Francisco had no idea the world would soon be in the grip of a catastrophic global pandemic. When that extraordinary scenario became reality, however, the trial attorney trio never looked back.
"That was a curveball to say the least," Elizabeth A. Kramer, one of EKO Law's three founding partners, said with a chuckle. "But we still felt totally committed to starting the firm. ... It's a very large undertaking even under the best conditions, and obviously, we didn't know the global pandemic would hit, but that didn't deter us."
Kramer first met Julie C. Erickson, one of the other founders, while the two were students at the University of San Francisco School of Law, where Kramer and Erickson completed their legal degrees in 2013. Although they worked for different firms after passing the bar, Kramer stayed close with Erickson while they worked on similar class actions, conferring regularly about case strategy.
"If I were ever to start a law firm, I wanted it to be with Julie," Kramer said.
Erickson was also working regularly on class actions, meanwhile, with Kevin M. Osborne, EKO Law's third founder, and all three attorneys soon discovered they shared a similar passion for representing clients overlooked by the judicial system.
"We want to provide that to people who otherwise don't have access either because they can't afford it, because they don't have the resources, or because of the economic realities of the situation," Osborne explained. "Or in other words, they wouldn't be able to hire a lawyer to help them recover for their harm just because it's not worth it for the lawyer. ... We never back down from a righteous fight."
EKO Law handles class actions in six areas: financial fraud, workers' rights, consumer protection, privacy, sexual abuse and elder abuse. And the firm has enjoyed some impressive successes over the past year and a half.
Kramer was co-lead counsel representing a group of women claiming they were sexually abused by UCLA gynecologist and obstetrician Dr. James Heaps. Final approval for a $73 million settlement to that class action was granted July 13, according to Kramer, who said the process of administering payment to class members has already begun. A.B. v. The Regents of the University of California, 2:20-CV-09555 (C.D. Cal., filed Jul. 30, 2019).
"Sexual abuse cases have not traditionally been an area for class actions, but we've seen, unfortunately and alarmingly, situations where there's someone abusing their position of power, engaging in widespread harassment and abuse," Kramer explained. "Then behind that perpetrator is an institution that's enabling them and failing to protect the people that the institution was meant to serve. ... Being able to use the class action to get at that type of misconduct -- it's an area that I think is very righteous."
Osborne is currently heading EKO Law's representation of plaintiffs in a class action against Robinhood, alleging the online trading platform failed to maintain adequate security measures which resulted in thousands of accounts being hacked and looted last fall. Mehta v. Robinhood Financial LLC, 21-cv-01013 (N.D. Cal., filed Feb. 9, 2021).
"Again, we feel like this is a very righteous case," Osborne said, comparing Robinhood to "an innkeeper who lets a thief into your room."
"What makes matters worse is Robinhood is totally unprepared to handle hacks," Osborne alleged. "They don't even have a phone number to call. ... Imagine there was a thief in your house, and you had to email the police."
Erickson said the Robinhood case is an excellent example of precisely why she and her partners teamed up to form EKO Law.
"I'm really passionate about the power of a class action vehicle to represent groups of people who otherwise have no ability to fight against a big corporate figure that is breaking the law," she said. "And I just really fell in love with civil procedure and Rule 23 early on because of the utility of class actions to do broad good for large groups of people."
San Francisco plaintiffs' attorney George N. Kawamoto has co-counseled class actions with Erickson and described her as an excellent lawyer who is extraordinarily respectful and courteous with the litigants and attorneys on both sides of a case.
"But that doesn't mean she's a pushover," Kawamoto said. "When necessary, Julie is a tough, tough attorney. She has the ability to both draw bees with honey but also stick to her position and fight."
Los Angeles class action defense attorney Shon Morgan opposed Kramer when she was at her former firm representing women who accused former USC gynecologist Dr. George Tyndall of sexual abuse, a case that settled for $215 million.
"There were lots of big players," Morgan said of all the plaintiffs' lawyers involved in the case. "Elizabeth was one of the younger attorneys on the team, but she was a very active and important voice in the settlement process. ... The mediation we did for that case was the biggest one I've ever been involved in -- with more than 100 participants -- and she was right there at the center of the table."
Osborne said he feels fortunate to have joined with Kramer and Erickson and takes "great pride in the fact that I work for a majority women-owned law firm."
"I hope that's more common in the future. I think it should be more common right now," he said. "But I'm lucky they're bringing me along for the ride. As far as I'm concerned, they're both geniuses, and I don't know why they keep me around."
--Shane Nelson