Attorney Profiles
 Erik A. Christiansen
Salt Lake City, Utah
Erik Christiansen is a shareholder in the Litigation department and chair of the firm's Securities Litigation Practice Group. Mr. Christiansen represents companies, officers, directors, broker dealers and registered representatives, among others, in securities class actions, derivative actions, internal investigations, proxy disputes, NASD arbitrations, shareholder disputes, partnership disputes, and in defense of enforcement actions and investigations involving the SEC, the Utah Division of Securities, SROs and FINRA. Mr. Christiansen also practices in the areas of complex commercial litigation, including primarily securities, commercial contract, fraud, insurance coverage, trade secrets and partnership dispute litigation. He is also a member of the employment law department where he focuses on non-compete agreement litigation. Prior to joining the firm in 1996, Mr. Christiansen practiced for five years in Los Angeles, California as an attorney at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy and as an attorney at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. In addition to his practice in Utah, Mr. Christiansen also continues to maintain an active practice in California.
Related Activities and Skills:
- Chair, Securities Litigation Practice Group
- Articles Editor and Member of Editorial Board, Utah Law Review
- William H. Leary Scholar
- President, Board of Trustees, Salt Lake Art Center, 2006-present
- Chairman, Securities Section of the Utah State Bar, 2005-2006
- President, University of Utah Young Alumni Board, 2000-2002
- President Elect and member of the Executive Committee, Federal Bar Association, Utah Chapter, 2007-present
- Member, Salt Lake Visitor and Convention Bureau's Board of Trustees, 2007-present
- Member, Board of Directors, KRCL 90.9 FM, Community Radio, 2006-present
- Member, Board of Trustees and Executive Committee, International Sculpture Center, Hamilton, New Jersey, 2006 - present
- Member, Constitution, Bylaws and Rules Committee for the National Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, 2006-2009
- Maintains a Martindale-Hubble AV rating
- Board of Trustees, Legal Aid Society, 2003-2006
- Member, Planning Committee, Mountain West Capital Network
- Member, Advisory Group to the Utah Division of Securities, charged with review of the Uniform Securities Act of 2002
- Board of Trustees, University of Utah College of Law, S.J. Quinney Law School, 1996-1999
- Associate, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy, 1990-1993
- Associate, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, 1993-1995
- Co-Chair, 2007 CLE Seminar, Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee of the A.B.A.
- Editor-in-Chief of Coverage, the official journal of the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association's Section of Litigation, 2007-present
- Editor, Federal Bar Association Newsletter, Utah Chapter, 2006 (awarded the 2006 Meritorious Newsletter Recognition Award by the National Federal Bar Association on August 26, 2006 at the F.B.A.'s National Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada)
- Regional Representative, Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee of the Section of Litigation of the American Bar Association, 2003-2004.
- Co-Chair of the Bad Faith Subcommittee of the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee of the Section of Litigation of the American Bar Association, 2002-2004.
- 2002 Winter Olympic Counsel, Utah State Bar Association, represented Olympic athletes before the Court of Arbitration for Sport during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games
- Member, Salt Lake County Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association
- Successfully represented Marie-Reine Le Gougne, the French Judge involved in the Pairs Figure Skating controversy in the 2002 Winter Olympics, in her disciplinary hearing before the International Skating Union ("ISU") in Lausanne, Switzerland on April 29-30, 2002.
- Successfully represented bobsled pilot and four-time Olympian Sandis Prusis and the Latvian Olympic Committee in the Tribunal Arbitral Du Sport, Court of Arbitration for Sport ("CAS"), Ad hoc Division - XIX Winter Olympic Games in a case against the International Olympic Committee ("IOC"), which reversed a decision of the IOC and resulted in Mr. Prusis being able to compete in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah (CAS arbitration No CAS 0G02/001).
Published works:
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Technicolor Hats: The Danger of Relying Solely on D&O Insurance To Protect In-House Counsel In Securities Litigation, American Bar Association's Coverage magazine, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2006
- Author, Utah Chapter of Insurance Bad Faith: A Compendium of State Law, Published by the DRI Defense Library Series, May 2004
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Constitutional Limitations on Litigating Bad Faith Claims After State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Campbell, America Bar Association's Coverage magazine, Vol. 13, No. 3, 2003
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Sterling V. Velsicol Chemical Corporation: Emotional Distress Damages for the Duration of Toxic Exposure, Utah Law Review 759, 1989
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Miranda-Like Warnings Required in Non-Custodial Settings, Utah Law Review 260, No. 1, 1989
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A Discussion of the Budget Crisis 4 Utah Forum 45, Spring, 1986
- Litigation
- Securities Litigation
- Intellectual Property Litigation
- Insurance Coverage Litigation
- Banking & Finance Law
- Administrative Law
- Regulatory Enforcement
- Alternative Dispute Resolution
- Bad Faith Insurance
- Art
- Utah, 1996
- California, 1990
- U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 10th Circuit
- U.S. District Court Southern District of California
- U.S. District Court Central District of California
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court District of Utah
- U.S. District Court District of Arizona
- University of Utah College of Law, Salt Lake City, Utah,
1990
J.D. degree
- University of Utah,
1987
B.A. degree
- University of Utah,
1986
B.A. degree
- Speaker, "Update on Recent Significant Securities Decisions," at the 31st Annual Utah State Bar Securities Law Workshop, August 22, 2008
- Speaker, "Spoliation of Evidence in an Electronic World," presented at a Lorman seminar on Document Retention and Destruction, Sheraton City Centre, Salt Lake City, May 16, 2008
- Speaker, "Do's and Don'ts of Deals in Utah", Mountain West Capital Network lunch, December 13, 2007.
- Speaker, "Discovery in Bad Faith Cases, Ethical Issues and the Tripartite Relationship, and Bad Faith Issues in Construction Defects Litigation Involving Additional Insureds," presented at the Lorman Insurance Bad Faith Claims in Utah Seminar at the Hilton Hotel, in Salt Lake City, Utah on September 19, 2007.
- Speaker, "Private Securities Litigation in Utah," presented at the Utah State Bar's Annual Meeting of the Securities Law Section, in Sun Valley, Idaho, on August 11, 2007.
- Speaker, "Update on Recent Significant Securities Decisions," presented at the Utah State Bar's Annual Securities Workshop, at the Downtown Marriott Hotel in Salt Lake City, on August 25, 2006.
- Speaker, "First Party Bad Faith Claims and Speaker, Punitive Damages In Insurance Bad Faith Cases After Campbell v. State Farm," presented at Lorman seminar entitled Insurance Bad Faith Claims In Nevada, at the Golden Nugget hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 23, 2006.
- Speaker, "D&O Coverage For In-House Counsel of Issuers of Securities," at the Utah State Bar Spring Corporate Counsel Seminar, May 5, 2005.
- Speaker, "Mold & Bad Faith Litigation," at the A.B.A.'s 2005 Insurance Coverage Litigatin CLE Seminar in Tucson, Arizona on March 4, 2005.
- Speaker, "To Restate or Not to Restate: Handling a Disclosure Crisis," at the 27th Annual Securities Law Workshop of the Utah State Bar Association's Securities Section, in Sun Valley, Idaho, on August 21, 2004.
- Speaker, "Ten Things I Love & Hate About Insurance Companies and Insureds: The Latest On Coverage Dynamics," at the A.B.A. Section of Litigation's Annual Conference in Phoenix, Arizona on May 7, 2004.
- Speaker, "Bad Faith Claims And ERISA: What's Next?," at the A.B.A.'s Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee's annual CLE Seminar in Tucson, Arizona on March 6, 2004.
- Speaker, "Tool Box Lunch - Hot Topics, on Bad Faith Claims," at the A.B.A.'s Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section's 12th Annual Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee Midyear Program at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel, on February 20, 2004, in Santa Monica, California.
- Speaker, "Private Federal and State Securities Litigation," presented at the Utah State Bar New Lawyer CLE seminar entitled Securities Law Practice in Utah, at the Utah Law and Justice Center, October 30, 2003.
- Speaker, "Recent Developments in Securities Litigation in the 9th and 10th Circuits," presented at the 26th Annual Securities Section Retreat of the Securities Section of the Utah State Bar, August 16, 2003, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
- Panelist, Plenary Session: "Bad Faith Litigation After Campbell v. State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance," presented at the American Bar Association's 2003 Insurance Coverage Litigation CLE Seminar in Tucson, Arizona on March 7, 2003.
- Discussion Leader, "Punitive Damages After White vs. Ford Motor Company," presented at the American Bar Association's 2003 Insurance Coverage Litigation CLE Seminar in Tucson, Arizona on March 7, 2003.
- Speaker, Mock Trial Re "The Document Retention Requirements of the Sarbanes - Oxley Act of 2002, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure", presented to 1100 people at the National Meeting of Iron Mountain Incorporated on February 6, 2003, in Orlando, Florida.
- Speaker, Mock Trial Re "The Document Retention Requirements of the Sarbanes - Oxley Act of 2002," presented at the "Best of the West" regional meeting of Iron Mountain Records Management Corporation, a division of Iron Mountain Incorporated, on November 19, 2002, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- Speaker, "Recent Developments in Securities Class Action Litigation in the United States - Western Region", presented at the Center for International Legal Studies, on October 11, 2002 in Salzburg, Austria.
- Speaker, "Legal Ethics of Olympic Proportion: Athlete Arbitrations at the Salt Lake 2002 Olympics", presented at Utah Valley State College on September 24, 2002.
- Speaker, "Recent Developments in the 9th and 10th Circuits in Securities Laws", presented at the 25th Annual Securities Section Retreat of the Securities Section of the Utah State Bar on August 17, 2002, in Sun Valley, ID
- Panelist, "D&O Lawsuits' Stories from the Trenches", presented at T2M Technology to Market Summit 2001 Conference at Deer Valley Ski Resort on December 6, 2001.
- Speaker, "Recent Developments in Securities Litigation in the 9th and 10th Circuits", presented at the Utah State Bar Securities Section 24th Annual Meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on August 18, 2001.
- Speaker, "Recent Developments in the 9th and 10th Circuits in Securities Laws," presented at 23rd Annual Securities Section Retreat of the Securities Section of the Utah State Bar, August 2000, in Sun Valley, Idaho.
- Articles Editor & Member of Editorial Board, Utah Law Review
- Staff Member, Utah Law Review
- American Jurisprudence Award, Legal Profession
- American Jurisprudence Award, Constitutional Law II
- Beta Theta Pi
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