Holch & Erickson LLP
Niels C. Holch
Niels C. Holch is a founding partner of Holch & Erickson LLP. He has more than twenty-five years experience in both private practice and government service in Washington. In his private practice, he has represented clients on a wide range of issues before the United States Congress and various Federal administrative agencies. These issues include Native American law and policy, the regulation of financial markets, election and lobbying regulation, and energy/environmental law and policy.
In addition to representing clients before the Senate and House of Representatives, Mr. Holch has worked closely with the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Election Commission, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Justice, the Department of Labor, the National Indian Gaming Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Smithsonian Institution, and the White House.
Prior to founding Holch & Erickson LLP and a predecessor law firm, McGuiness & Holch, Mr. Holch served as Chief of Staff and Legislative Director for U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), currently the Senate Republican Leader.
Previously, Mr. Holch was Senior Vice President at Hill & Knowlton Public Affairs, Vice President and Counsel at Gray and Company Public Affairs, Legislative Representative for the American Iron and Steel Institute, and Professional Staff Member for the Re-Election Campaign of Representative Stewart McKinney (R-CT).
Active in various nonprofit activities, Mr. Holch serves as the President of the Board of Trustees for The Key School (Annapolis, Maryland), Secretary of the Board of Directors for the Retirement Investing Institute (Lakewood, Colorado), Executive Director of the Coalition of Mutual Fund Investors (Washington, D.C.), and Executive Director of the Shareholder Communications Coalition.
Mr. Holch has received five patents for co-inventing the first cashless slot machine to be developed in the United States.
Mr. Holch graduated magna cum laude from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1978, receiving a B.A. in Economics and Psychology. In 1984, he received his J.D., cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center.
Mr. Holch is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia. He and his family live in Annapolis, Maryland.
Email: nholch@holcherickson.com
Markham C. Erickson
Markham C. Erickson is a founding partner of Holch & Erickson LLP (www.holcherickson.com), where he represents clients before federal regulatory agencies, courts, and the United States Congress. His practice typically involves engagement on complex issues relating to the Internet, new technologies, and nascent industries. He also has an active practice in Native American law and policy.
Beginning in the mid-1990s, representing Netscape and AOL, Mr. Erickson helped to write and negotiate many of the federal laws that govern e-commerce, technology, and the use of the Internet, including the CAN-SPAM Act, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and the Communications Decency Act. In addition, Mr. Erickson has represented the United States government before the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on matters relating to speech and content regulation on the Internet.
He serves as lead counsel to Google, eBay, Amazon.com, IAC, Skype, and other Internet and technology companies in the Open Internet Coalition (www.openinternetcoalition.com), a coalition representing consumers, grassroots organizations, and Internet and technology companies advocating for “network neutrality” before the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the United States Congress. He recently authored the Coalition’s extensive docket filing in the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in this area, leading a team of dozens of lawyers, technologists, and economists.
He also serves as Executive Director to NetCoalition, a coalition of Internet companies that include eBay, Yahoo!, Amazon.com, Google, IAC, Wikipedia, and Bloomberg LP. This engagement involves work to promote a healthy legal environment for Internet business models before courts, administrative agencies, and the United States Congress.
In addition, Mr. Erickson routinely represents start-up companies and technology firms on a variety of matters before the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the United States Congress. These issues range from privacy compliance matters to law enforcement compliance issues, as well as involving negotiations over the applications of existing laws to new business models or new areas of technology.
He has written extensively on issues relating to law and technology. His most recent article, “Carcieri v. Salazar: The Supreme Court’s Definition of ‘Now’ Creates Uncertainty for Indian Tribes,” appeared in the summer of 2009 in The Federal Lawyer. Click here to view a copy of this article.
He has taught classes on Internet-related issues at Stanford Law School and Georgetown University Law Center. He has been quoted extensively in major publications, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. And, he has appeared on television to explain his clients’ positions on high profile law and technology issues, including on CNBC, MSNBC, and C-Span.
Mr. Erickson received a B.A. in English Literature from Wheaton College (IL) and a J.D., with honors, from George Washington University Law School. He is a member of the Virginia State Bar and the United States Supreme Court Bar. He is a member of the American Bar Association, where he serves on a variety of intellectual property and technology subcommittees.
Email: merickson@holcherickson.com
Telephone: +1 202 – 624 - 1462
