B.M., Loyola University New Orleans
J.D., New York Law School

Eirik Cheverud is an attorney, activist, and scholar. He joined Albany Law as a Visiting Assistant Professor in August 2025. His scholarship investigates how the historical development of language impacts U.S. legal practice. He is expert in legal writing, statutory interpretation, judicial use of dictionaries, and legal typography.

Professor Cheverud served twelve years as an appellate attorney for the U.S. Department of Labor, fighting to enforce and preserve workers’ federal employment rights. Cheverud collaborated with the U.S. Department of Justice on ERISA cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and under President Biden’s administration, he represented the Department as part of a White House Task Force on reproductive-rights rulemaking and litigation. Cheverud is a recognized expert on ERISA and other federal benefits laws.

Professor Cheverud also maintains a robust, movement-oriented pro bono practice. He spearheaded two important cases challenging prosecutorial and police misconduct during and following the Ferguson Uprising. Now he provides legal support for activists and demonstrators across the United States, with a particular focus on protecting activists’ rights to speech and protest.

Professor Cheverud’s past scholarship has obtained judicial and academic attention. Professor Wayne R. LaFave cited Cheverud’s coauthored paper about municipal arrest authority in his Search and Seizure: A Treatise on the Fourth Amendment. And New York State courts have adopted Cheverud’s characterization of internet speech for online defamation claims, which he described as having a “freewheeling, anything-goes writing style.”

Cheverud graduated magna cum laude from New York Law School in 2011. He hails from St. Louis, Missouri, and he worked as a jazz musician before turning to the law. His interests include writing, philosophy, history, typography, music, and baseball.