Erica H. MacDonald

White Collar Defense & Internal Investigations

Erica serves clients in white collar criminal defense; internal investigations; and False Claims Act (FCA), FCPA, and qui tam litigation. She is highly experienced in complex and sensitive investigations, including directing high-stakes internal investigations and responding to grand jury subpoenas, congressional inquiries, and civil and investigative demands (CIDs). Clients rely on Erica’s deep experience and proven judgment to develop and implement crisis-management strategies, including advance planning, team coordination, and execution.

Representative Experience

• Represented medical device company in a multijurisdictional Department of Justice (DOJ) FCA inquiry, guiding company through CID response, conducting privileged investigation, and developing plan for remediation.
• Represented a food company in a high-profile Department of Labor (DOL) investigation; led a team in coordinating responses to CIDs, conducting privileged internal investigations, negotiating with government officials, advising on voluntary disclosure, and securing a settlement on favorable terms despite significant criminal, civil, and reputational exposure.
• Represented a med-tech corporation in high-stakes government investigations and crisis matters, including leading a multidisciplinary team responding to investigative reporting and resulting investigations by DOJ for violations of the FCA, the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, and the Minnesota Department of Human Services; navigated multiple civil investigative demands and related litigation, including an action in Arizona, arising from allegations of fraudulent billing and misconduct.
• Led a privileged internal investigation for a global food, agriculture, and bio-industrial company into the conduct of private banking executives in China, assembling and managing a cross-border team of approximately 10 lawyers, including attorneys from the firm’s Shanghai office, to assess potential criminal exposure under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act arising from whistleblower complaints and related financial activities.
• Represented a Fortune 500 global branded food company in a DOJ antitrust investigation, guiding the client from receipt of a grand jury subpoena through employee interviews and engagement with prosecutors; the matter was closed without enforcement action despite significant potential criminal and reputational exposure.

Complex Civil Litigation

Through her work as a trial lawyer and with the media, Erica has developed an ability to present complex arguments to nonlegal audiences — an essential skill for trial success. As a former judge, she has insight into how to argue effectively to the bench. She knows how to put together and run a trial team and effectively manage attorneys. Erica also knows the importance of developing and incorporating a media strategy into the litigation strategy.

Representative Experience

• Represented a gig economy company in complex, multijurisdictional litigation brought by the Minnesota Attorney General, challenging the company’s worker-classification practices and core business model; as part of a team, lead pretrial strategy, discovery, trial, and appellate planning, including managing extensive fact and expert discovery, large-scale ESI, and numerous depositions, and coordinating a unified litigation strategy across jurisdictions; matter was resolved on terms favorable to the company with no change in worker-classification.

Prior Experience

Prior to joining Faegre Drinker, Erica served as the 36th US Attorney for the District of Minnesota from 2018 until 2021. After being nominated by the president, she was confirmed unanimously by the US Senate. As US Attorney, she served as the chief federal law enforcement officer, focusing on prosecuting crimes related to terrorism, firearms, narcotics, child exploitation, human trafficking, financial fraud, health care fraud, and public corruption. She also focused resources on affirmative and defensive civil cases and assisted communities throughout Minnesota in community-building efforts.

As Minnesota’s US Attorney, Erica set law enforcement prosecution and investigation priorities for all federal law enforcement agencies in the district, including the FBI, DEA, ATF, IRS, US Postal Inspection, US Secret Service, and US Marshals Service. She also worked with the SEC, FBI, and IRS to increase white collar investigations and prosecutions, and engaged in outreach and cooperation with state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies; members and leaders of the community; business leaders; and the media.

In 2019, Erica was one of 12 US Attorneys appointed to the US Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, where she chaired its Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Working Group and served on the subcommittees on national security, cybercrime, white collar crimes, and Native American issues. This service also gave her deeper insight into the workings of the DOJ and solid connections with its career staff.

Previously, she served as a trial court judge in Dakota County for more than eight years, presiding over thousands of jury trials, bench trials, and evidentiary hearings, and ran two specialty courts: Dakota County Adult Drug Court and Juvenile Court. In Dakota County, Erica also honed her skills as a mediator, working with parties to resolve disputes prior to lengthy and costly litigation.

Prior to that, Erica served as an assistant US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and the District of Minnesota, where she conducted prosecutions and investigations involving white collar crime, money laundering, tax and mortgage fraud, child exploitation, human trafficking, firearms violations, and violent crime.

Before law school, Erica worked for five years with May Department Stores, rising through the ranks from assistant buyer to department manager to buyer. This experience gave her strong insight into the needs of clients and the importance of lawyer-client collaboration.

Personal Interests

Erica is a long-term resident of Minnesota and has lived in the same community and same home for more than 25 years. She volunteers her time to serve her community, such as serving on the Board for the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Foundation and teaching as an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School. In her free time, she enjoys running, cooking, and spending time with her friends and family. For more information on her background, please visit her Wikipedia page.