Erika M. Lopes-McLeman

Erika M. Lopes-McLeman is a Partner in the commercial litigation practice at Dentons, based in Short Hills, New Jersey, focusing on Insurance Law. She is a dynamic, client-focused commercial litigator who represents leading US and international companies in state and federal trial courts, appellate proceedings, arbitrations and mediations, and is admitted to the bars of New Jersey and New York.

Erika has particular expertise in insurance disputes and class actions. She represents large and small insurance carriers in complex insurance coverage litigation, bad faith actions, insurance-related class actions, Department of Insurance investigations and arbitrations. She also regularly counsels insurance carriers on complex, high-value claims, and is sought out for her appellate experience in the insurance space at both the intermediate and state supreme court levels.

She is a prolific speaker on insurance law and dispute resolution topics and co-chairs the annual Dentons Insurance Symposium, which brings together more than 200 of the firm’s insurance clients for CLE presentations on critical legal issues impacting the insurance industry. She is actively involved with insurance industry organisations ARIAS (AIDA Reinsurance and Insurance Arbitration Society) and AIRROC (Association of Insurance & Reinsurance Run-Off Companies).

Her representative insurance matters include serving as lead defence counsel in New Jersey and New York for a major property insurer in numerous property and flood insurance coverage lawsuits, achieving dismissal of several actions through motion practice; representing a national life insurer in litigation against insurance agents arising out of fraudulent life insurance applications; providing claims counselling and coverage counsel to a domestic life insurance company in matters arising out of denial of benefits; securing an order in federal court reducing multi-million dollar damages sought against a property insurer to a fraction of the original demand; representing national insurance carriers in several high-profile COVID-19 business interruption coverage litigations, including at appellate and state supreme court level; and securing dismissal of putative class actions concerning reimbursement of personal injury protection medical expenses and the payment of title and license plate transfer fees on total vehicle loss.

Erika also brings depth of experience to commercial disputes across industries including pharmaceutical, food and beverage, consumer goods, media and entertainment, and technology. She has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in cases involving breach of contract, mergers and acquisitions, employment, fraud, fiduciary, trusts and estates, copyrights, trademarks, false advertising, trade secrets and class action litigation. She is highly involved in the firm’s ESG practice, serving as Co-Chair of the Firm’s Global ESG Litigation Taskforce.

She is sought out as a proven leader invested in advancing diversity, equity and inclusion within the firm and the legal profession. She currently serves as Co-Chair of the Firm’s WomenLEAD Committee and is a member of the Firm’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee, having previously served as Co-Chair of the Firmwide Associates Committee for four years. She was selected for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Pathfinder (2017) and Fellow (2022) programmes.

Prior to private practice, Erika served as a law clerk to the Honorable Stuart J. Rabner, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of New Jersey, and currently serves on the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law.

Her recognitions include listing as a Legal 500 Recommended Lawyer for Insurance Advice to Insurers (2024, 2026), selection by The Best Lawyers in America as “One to Watch” for Commercial Litigation (2021–2025), recognition by the New Jersey Law Journal as a “New Leader of the Bar” (2018), and a Chambers Shortlist as Emerging Leader for Gender Equality (2019).

Her practice areas include alternative dispute resolution, commercial litigation, construction and engineering disputes, coverage counselling and defense, ESG and greenwashing litigation, financial services litigation, global class and collective actions, insurance and reinsurance, insurance litigation and arbitration, insurance-related insolvencies, life sciences, litigation and dispute resolution, property, casualty and liability insurance, and reinsurance. She holds a JD, cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law (2011), where she was Senior Articles Editor of the Seton Hall Circuit Review and a member of the Interscholastic Moot Court Board, and a BA (Hons.) in Political Science from Trinity College (2006).