Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Business & Commercial Disputes

Partner - Litigation and Investigations

With more than 25 years of litigation experience, Erin Ehlert focuses on cases that are making their way to trial. Having spent thousands of hours in the courtroom as a criminal prosecutor, she is highly skilled in reviewing and synthesizing complex discovery and investigations, identifying experts, utilizing direct and cross examination to tell a story to a jury, and finding creative and compelling arguments to impact the judge in legal rulings and persuade a jury as they decide a case.

After spending the initial years of her legal career as a deputy district attorney in Clark County, Nevada, Erin was a prosecutor in King County, Washington, for more than 20 years. Her trial work focused on the prosecution of violent crimes including domestic violence, sexual assault and homicide. She became a leader at the King County Prosecutor’s Office as the Seattle assistant chief of the Criminal Division, guiding the career development of more than 170 attorneys, handling policy and legislative issues, managing case development and the resolution of criminal investigations from more than 20 law enforcement agencies, and continuing her trial practice.

The majority of Erin’s time as a prosecutor was spent on homicide investigations and trials. She routinely responded to active crime scenes and developed a particular interest in applying emerging DNA technology to cold case investigations, including probabilistic genotyping and genetic genealogy. In her final two years as a prosecutor she supervised the homicide unit while continuing her own trial practice.

Erin was involved in several high-profile cases and investigations, including the scene response, investigation, and trial and conviction of the 2006 mass shooting at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle; the crime scene response and homicide investigations in the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) zone in the summer of 2020; and the investigation and filing of criminal charges using genetic genealogy for the 1991 murder of Federal Way High School student Sarah Yarborough.

Erin transitioned to civil practice in 2020, joining a boutique litigation firm in Seattle where her trial skills earned her a strong reputation in the courtroom. Her cases have included medical malpractice defense, wrongful death, product liability and tort cases, and defending cities and counties in personal injury and use of force litigation.