About Eric
Eric Hard studied English and political science at Vassar College, earning a B.A. in 1978. He went on to the University of Michigan Law School and received his J.D. in 1984. He returned to formal study a few years later, completing an M.S. in Journalism at Columbia University in 1986. Those three degrees shaped a career that has moved between law, public policy and legal writing.
He began his practical legal work as a law student intern in the mid-1980s. In 1984 he took an internship at Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc., and the following year he worked with California Indian Legal Services. After Columbia, he joined the American Bar Association as an editor in 1986, a role that connected his journalism training to legal subject matter.
Hard spent a year in Washington as a lobbyist for Public Citizen’s Congress Watch in 1987. The next year he entered private practice in the city as an associate at Newman & Newell. In 1989 he became a partner at Cohen Burns Hard & Paul. That move established him in a firm leadership role early in his legal career.
His professional memberships track a steady pattern of licensure and bar involvement. He has been a member of the Massachusetts State Bar since 1987 and joined the District of Columbia Bar in 1988. He added affiliation with the Connecticut State Bar in 1990. In 2018 he gained membership in the United States Supreme Court Bar. Those admissions allow him to handle matters that span state and federal forums.
Throughout his career Hard has combined legal practice with advocacy and editorial work. His background in journalism and his time at the ABA inform the way he approaches written work for clients and courts. His years in Washington — in both lobbying and private practice — gave him experience in regulatory and policy settings. Those experiences shape how he advises clients on procedural and strategic questions.
Today he maintains an active practice across multiple jurisdictions. He is licensed in Massachusetts and Connecticut and remains a current member of the District of Columbia Bar and the United States Supreme Court Bar. His current practice focuses on matters brought in state and federal courts in those jurisdictions.
