About Erica
Erica Costa grew up immersed in the study of Native communities and law. She turned that interest into formal study at the University of California, Davis, where she earned a B.A. in Native American Studies in 2013. She continued at UCLA School of Law and received her J.D. in 2017.
Her legal path has taken her into both courtrooms and classrooms. Costa is an associate at Berkey Williams LLP, where she practices under the firm’s broader litigation and appellate umbrella. She also serves as an adjunct professor of law at UC Law San Francisco, a role that keeps her connected to legal education and to a new generation of lawyers.
Costa is admitted to practice in California and before the Ninth Circuit. She also holds admission in multiple federal trial courts across the state: the United States District Courts for the Central, Eastern, Southern and Northern Districts of California. Her practice extends to tribal forums as well. She is admitted to the Intertribal Court of Southern California and to the Karuk Tribal Court, allowing her to appear in both state-federal systems and tribal judicial settings.
Her involvement in professional circles includes membership in the California Indian Law Association, Inc. That affiliation places her in a network of practitioners and scholars who work on issues affecting Indigenous nations in California and beyond. The combination of tribal court admissions and that association membership underscores a continuing professional interest in matters where tribal sovereignty and state or federal law intersect.
At Berkey Williams LLP, Costa works on matters that draw on her courtroom admissions and on appellate practice before the Ninth Circuit. Colleagues note that her schedule balances firm responsibilities with teaching duties at UC Law San Francisco. In the classroom she brings recent courtroom perspective to students, and in the office she draws on academic discussion as part of case preparation.
Costa’s career reflects a mix of trial, appellate and tribal court practice. She holds active admissions that let her represent clients across California’s federal districts, in the Ninth Circuit, and in named tribal courts. She continues to split her professional time between her work at Berkey Williams LLP and teaching at UC Law San Francisco, focusing her current practice on matters arising in state, federal and tribal venues.
