About Aurelia
Aurelia Erickson built her legal foundation at Northwestern University, where she earned a B.A. in Political Science and International Studies in 2004. She continued her studies at Lewis & Clark Law School and received her J.D. in 2012. Those years on the East Coast and in Oregon shaped her interests and gave her early exposure to both public service and environmental issues.
After law school she spent a year as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Kari Kristiansen at the Palmer Superior Court in Alaska. The clerkship in 2012 introduced her to courtroom procedure and the practical side of judicial decision-making. Prior to that, she served as a law clerk at the Earthrise Law Center in 2011 and worked in the Environmental Crimes Division of the Oregon Department of Justice in 2010. Those roles gave her experience with regulatory matters and prosecutorial practice.
In 2014 she returned to Portland-area practice, taking on volunteer work at the Multnomah County Courthouse and at Metropolitan Public Defender Services, Inc. The volunteer positions exposed her to indigent defense and courtroom advocacy. Later that same year she joined the Law Office of Robert J. McGaughey as an associate lawyer. The move into private practice allowed her to build a litigation practice and handle a range of client matters.
A year after joining the firm she became a partner in 2015 at McGaughey Erickson. As a partner she has continued to split time between courtroom work and counseling clients. Her background spans environmental law, state-level prosecutions and defense representation. She has handled cases that require both technical understanding of regulatory frameworks and practical litigation tactics.
She is active in bar and professional organizations. She serves as an elected delegate to the Oregon State Bar House of Delegates. She is a member of OWLS and the Multnomah Bar Association, and she participates in the MBA Young Lawyers Section Pro Bono Committee. Those commitments reflect ongoing engagement with the local legal community and with access-to-justice efforts. As of 2026 she practices through McGaughey Erickson, and her practice focuses on environmental matters and criminal defense.
