Erik W. Lawrence

809 Coombs Street
Napa, CA 94559
T: (707) 252-7122

Erik Lawrence is an associate attorney in Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty’s business department.  His practice comprises general business matters, business and real property transactions and financings, mergers and acquisitions, private security placements, business entity formation and alcohol beverage law. 

Before joining DP&F in 2008, Erik was an associate attorney with Shartsis Friese LLP in San Francisco, where he specialized in business and corporate matters, with an emphasis on representing investment advisers, particularly hedge fund managers.  Before Erik attended law school, he was an Associate Vice President in Wells Fargo’s Commercial Banking Group. 

Erik earned his B.S. in Managerial Economics from the University of California, Davis, where he was also the center and a captain of the football team.  Erik earned his J.D. from the University of California, Davis where he was a member of the Order of the Coif, graduated in the top five percent of his class, served as the Managing Editor for the UC Davis Law Review, earned Witkin Awards in Federal Taxation and Antitrust Law and was awarded the Deborah J. Frick Memorial Scholarship for excellence in business law.

Erik is a native of Napa and spends much of his time with his wife Christina and their two daughters.  When not occupied with domestic duties, Erik enjoys outdoor activities, including mountain biking, hiking and fly-fishing.

Erik currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Napa Valley College Foundation and is a graduate of Leadership Napa Valley, Class 24.

Representative Matters

• Represented group of Chinese investors in acquisition of Napa Valley vineyard.
• Represented multiple buyers and sellers of winery brands and inventory.
• Represented premier Napa Valley winery in acquisition of prominent Napa Valley winery facility.
• Represented winery in refinance of $15,000,000 credit facility.
• Represented community bank in restructure of $8,500,000 multi-bank credit facility.
• Assisted in representing a public waste collection company in several acquisitions ranging from $250,000 to $40,000,000
• Assisted in representing a public tool manufacturer in a $7,000,000 acquisition
• Represented an intellectual property owner in negotiating and documenting several national and international licensing agreements

Publications

• DIP Financing: Why Rational Actors Lend to Bankrupt Businesses
• What is a Hedge Fund Anyway?
• Co-Author, Wine in America: Law and Policy, Chapter 4, Business Models for Making Wine and Growing Grapes (Aspen Publishers, 2011)
• Wine Industry Financial Symposium 2011, Panelist, Winery Debt Financing Best Practices
• Judge, 2011 UC Davis School of Law Negotiations Competition