“I have dedicated my career to standing beside people who have faced discrimination or retaliation and helping them force accountability from those who wrongly believed they held all the power and that the law did not apply to them.”

In March 2025, 76 minutes after Erin finished her closing argument, a Jackson County jury returned a unanimous verdict on all counts awarding nearly $1 million in economic and emotional distress damages to Chris Hernandez, the City of Kansas City’s former communications director, who was forced out of his job after he refused to go along with lying to the press. Erin tried the case with her former law partner. The day after the verdict, the City Manager was suspended, and then the City Council later voted unanimously to remove him from office.

That case is what Erin means by Justice through a Reckoning: a whistleblower told the truth, a jury believed him and recognized the significant emotional distress he suffered, and the official who lied, broke the law, and retaliated against him lost his job. Erin’s practice exists to make that outcome possible for victims of discrimination and for the people who spoke up about discrimination, harassment, or wrongdoing and were punished for it by employers, corporations, and government entities, including the public officials who run them.

What Erin Does

As Managing Partner of Baldwin & Vernon Trial Attorneys, Erin leads a trial-driven, justice-centered firm that puts clients first and is unafraid of powerful defendants. She represents employees in cases involving:

Whistleblower Retaliation, including claims under Section 105.055: Missouri’s Public-Employee Whistleblower Statute

Sex, Age, Disability, Religion, and Race Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation under the Missouri Human Rights Act and Federal Law

Discrimination in Public Accommodations

Workers’ Compensation Retaliation

Assault and Battery and Breach of Fiduciary Duty

She is especially committed to representing women facing sex discrimination and sexual harassment. She understands the fear, the power imbalance, and the emotional toll these cases take, and she knows how to try them.

How She Got Here

Erin is the daughter of a first-grade teacher and an attorney. From her mother she learned empathy, patience, and how to tell a story; from her father, fierce advocacy and strategic thinking. Together they left her with a lasting curiosity about people, systems, and why power so often gets misused.

She started working at age 11 as a summer file clerk in a Wichita, Kansas law office. She graduated from the University of Kansas with highest distinction in both psychology and journalism, then spent two years with Litigation Insights, a national litigation consulting firm, coordinating mock trials and shadow juries across the country. It was while coordinating a shadow jury, listening to a dying mesothelioma patient testify, that she realized she could never represent corporations accused of harming individuals. She simply didn’t have the heart for it.

Erin simultaneously earned her Juris Doctor from Duke Law and a Master of Arts in Psychology from Duke University Graduate school, where her graduate research focused on juror perception and decision-making in civil trials. Three and a half years into practice she delivered her first closing argument in an employment discrimination trial. Arguing directly to the jury, and then watching that jury deliver justice to her client, made her fall even more in love with jury trials.

Honors and Professional Memberships

In 2026, Erin was selected by Missouri Lawyers Media for its Women’s Justice Awards in the Litigation Practitioner category, which recognizes women litigators for excellence in the courtroom and their impact on the profession.

She is a member of the National Employment Lawyers Association, Missouri NELA, and the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys.

Outside the Courtroom

Erin spends her time with family and friends, snuggling her fur-nieces, traveling abroad, and immersing herself in history, psychology, and true crime.

Why She Does Retaliation Work

“I do this work because I believe truth still matters, courage should be rewarded, not punished, and justice, when pursued relentlessly, can force real change. Whistleblowers protect the rest of us. My job is to make sure the law protects them back.”

Why She is Passionate about Discrimination

"I believe everyone deserves to be judged on their work and treated with respect when they are at their job or walking into a business open to the public, regardless of their age, sex, race, religion, disability, workplace injury, or nationality. When an employer forgets that fair and equal treatment is not optional but the law, I am passionate about helping my clients remind them.”

Why She Loves Her Job

"Ours is an adversarial and at times exhausting profession, and many attorneys spend long hours on causes they don't believe in or clients they don't respect. I am grateful that every day I get to represent only people I believe in and assist them as they tell their stories to judges and juries in pursuit of justice. There is nothing more rewarding than helping people I admire heal from their trauma and move on to a better and happier life."