Eric G. Pearson is a business litigator who works closely with clients to resolve complex disputes and to manage the associated financial risk or uncertainty. Eric has tried cases before judges, juries, and administrative bodies, and he uses his experience in the courtroom for clients, regardless of whether they choose to pursue litigation or whether they require other practical and efficient solutions for resolving their disputes. Eric is also a certified public accountant, and he uses that experience to present what are often complex commercial, accounting, or tax concepts in a clear and concise manner.
Eric is a partner and member of the firm’s Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Securities Enforcement & Litigation, Tax Controversy, Appellate, and Government Enforcement Defense & Investigations Practices.
Litigation and Dispute Resolution
Eric has considerable experience with litigating and trying complex commercial disputes. He has particular experience with post-merger disputes, including purchase-price and working-capital adjustments, earnout disputes, and other post-closing escrow disputes. Eric’s cases have also included appraisal actions, shareholder disputes, and cases with complex damages issues.
Eric also has specific experience representing audit committees of publicly and privately held corporations. This work has included investigations of accounting irregularities or failures of internal controls and often involve coordinating with the client’s external auditor. Eric is one of the co-editors of the firm’s Audit Committee Deskbook (PLI 2023).
Although Eric has litigated cases across the country, he is uniquely familiar with the federal courts in the Seventh Circuit and with the state courts in Wisconsin. Before joining the firm, Eric served as a law clerk for Judge Diane S. Sykes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 2007-08. He is currently president of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association and a member of the Rules Committee for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. He is also a former chairman of the Wisconsin State Bar’s Appellate Practice Section.
Tax Controversy
Eric is a member of the firm’s Tax Controversy practice, and he regularly represents individuals and businesses involved in complex federal and state tax controversies, both in administrative resolution and in litigation.
He is a co-author of the chapter on federal tax procedure in Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts (5th ed. 2022) and, while in law school, interned for the IRS Office of Chief Counsel in Milwaukee.
Professional Responsibility
Eric has extensive experience with defending professional malpractice claims against lawyers and accountants. He has defended claims against Am Law 50 firms, mid-size law firms, and national accounting firms. He is the author of the Wisconsin chapter for the American Bar Association’s 50 State Survey of Accounting and Auditing Liability Issues (2021), and he serves as one of the firm’s professional responsibility partners, in which he counsels firm lawyers and clients through complex professional responsibility issues. He writes and speaks regularly on ethics issues for lawyers and accountants.
