A Life-Long Legal Career Dedicated to Advocating for Injured Workers in Ohio
Erin Schmidt is an Associate Attorney at NRS Injury Law, focusing on workers’ compensation law. Having spent multiple years representing clients in Social Security Disability claims, Erin draws on a rich background in plaintiff law where a knack for details, an eye for strategy, and an ability to counsel injured clients were essential in building winning cases.
Diverse Legal Skills Honed Through Years of Client Representation
“I wanted to be an attorney since I was seven years old,” Erin said, retracing the steps she took that brought her to a career in law. Coming from humble beginnings in rural, working-class Illinois, Erin worked after-school jobs in retail, record-keeping, market research, and finance when she wasn’t playing sports, but she always knew she’d one day take the LSAT, go to law school, pass the bar, and become an attorney. Erin passed the bar in 2006 and immediately began working with clients who had Social Security Disability claims. “From how the cases are constructed to how the laws govern both the administrative and litigative sides of the cases, social security law is very similar to workers’ compensation law,” Erin said. By working at plaintiff’s law firms and at times working under her own name, Erin represented thousands of cases in legal fields including disability, family law, real estate, criminal law, bankruptcy, consumer defense, and estate planning from 2006 to 2022. Since 2022, Erin has shifted her focus to advocating for Ohio workers who have been injured on the job.
Working Closely with Clients to Help Them Understand How to Win Workers’ Compensation Cases
To Erin, the key to building a winning case is harnessing institutional knowledge, informing clients so they become active team members on the case, and deftly helping clients set aside the emotions that often come with stressful workplace injuries. “We’re here to win victories,” Erin says. “NRS Injury Law holds the keys to the greatest body of institutional knowledge in the state of Ohio when it comes to workers’ compensation cases, and the firm is willing to innovate and do whatever it takes to help our clients succeed.”
Erin continued: “With the sheer degree of support we attorneys have at NRS Injury Law, we don’t have to go outside the firm to get help or to get complicated questions answered. I know workers’ comp cases can be stressful at times, both for the client and the attorney, but with the immense support we have at the firm, we’re able to smooth the road out in front of us, counsel our clients effectively, and work with them as a team to build compelling, logic-and-fact-driven cases that win.”
Work/Life Balance
When she’s not representing injured workers at the firm or volunteering, Erin is an avid gardener. She likes to go fishing from her kayak, and takes frequent summer trips to Wisconsin and Michigan to fish on inland lakes. Erin also sews, cross-stitches, and crochets. She enjoys visiting Northeast Ohio’s botanical gardens and natural history museums.
Don’t Wait to Seek Legal Help from Erin Schmidt
“My goal is to advocate for my clients in such a way that I help them remove the emotion from the case,” Erin said in closing. “I’m trying to help guide my clients to a point where the heartache and loss connected to their injury, their frustrations associated with it, those feelings are left by the wayside. That way, we can simply examine the facts with logic and strategy so that we may, as a team, build a winning case.”
Erin’s dedication to everyday working people and her unique ability to help clients focus on their cases and build strategies that win in court all come together and align perfectly with NRS Injury Law’s mission to: “Provide empathetic and patient service to every person who calls the firm, and to relentlessly pursue the best possible outcome on behalf of every client by putting collective experience, knowledge, and passion to work every day.” To retain an effective legal team with a proven track record and to speak with Erin and the firm about your case, call 855.468.4878 or fill out a convenient online contact form.
Community Impact
Erin has been deeply involved in numerous causes, community efforts, and volunteering campaigns, often centered around social services and education. For example, Erin has taken a leadership role in multiple organizations seeking to end preeclampsia, including the Preeclampsia Foundation and EndPreeclampsia. She has served as State Coordinator and Forum Moderator, actively answering and moderating a group of over 25,000 women who have suffered from preeclampsia, eclampsia, and HELLP Syndrome. Erin has also advocated for patients with auditory processing disorder, ADHD, and the need for comprehensive special education services. As a result of her diligent work in these spaces, Erin has earned numerous licenses and certifications. She is a Maternal Mental Health Advocate, a guardian ad litem, she holds the VA Disability Accreditation, and she is a member of the League of Women Voters.
Specific to her role as an attorney, Erin has spent a great deal of her free time sharing the knowledge she has accrued over the course of her career. For example, she has delivered several CLE (Continuing Legal Education) presentations. Some of these have included the Social Security and Workers’ Compensation Crossover CLE (2018), the Five Day Rule CLE (2017), the IDEA Basics CLE (2016), and the Social Security Disability Practice CLE (2014). She has also published her legal writings about workers’ compensation and social security payments in the Attorney at Law Magazine (2016). She also published her writings about Social Security Disability Practice in the American Bar Association’s Solo and Small Firm Magazine (2014).
Practice Areas
- Workers’ Compensation Law
Education
- Saint Louis University School of Law, St. Louis, Missouri
- J.D. – 2006
- Honors:
Dean’s Select Scholarship - Honors:
Academic Excellence Award in State and Local Government
- Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
- B.A. – 1998
- Honors:
Alpha Phi Omega - Honors:
Congress of the South 40 Constitutional Committee Secretary - Honors:
Student Union Chief Judicial Officer - Major:
Political Science
- Tuscola Community High School, Tuscola, Illinois
- HS Diploma – 1995
- Honors:
7th Grade Illinois State Championship in Track, running the mile - Honors:
Four-year letter winner in basketball - Honors:
Top batting average in softball in 1994, second place in 1995
Bar Admissions
- Ohio, 2013
Professional Associations
- Ohio Association of Justice
- Akron Bar Association (2017-Present)
- Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association (2018-2020)
- Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (2018-2020)
- National Organization of Social Security Claims Representatives
Current and Past Positions
- NRS Injury Law, 2022-present: (Associate Attorney representing injured Ohio workers by managing over 2,000 client cases, including handling approximately 25 administrative hearings per week, working with clients to move them through the workers’ compensation system, analyzing specifics of each case to maximize client benefits and settlements, and working with doctors to obtain the medical evidence necessary for each claim).
- Law Office of Robert S. Gitmeid, 2019-2022: (Associate Attorney investigating and preparing consumer credit claims and debt cases that totaled approximately 1,000 clients per year with 100-150 active litigation cases throughout Northeast Ohio).
- Bevan and Associates, 2013-2017: (Attorney tasked with researching social security and workers’ compensation cases, drafting case material, conducting hearings, training new staff, and delivering CLE [Continuing Legal Education] presentations on the subject of Social Security Disability).
- Law Office of Erin M. Schmidt, 2012-2013 & 2017-2019: (Sole Proprietor Attorney running a law firm at first centered around representing claimants in Social Security Disability cases [2012-2013], but which later expanded to include client representation in family law and estate planning [2017-2019]).
- Ellinger and Associates, 2008-2011: (Attorney tasked with representing over 400 cases across four counties in multiple areas of law, including but not limited to criminal, civil, traffic, family, personal injury, guardianship, bankruptcy, Social Security Disability, and estate planning).
- The Bassett Law Firm, 2006-2008: (Attorney responsible for representing claimants in Social Security Disability cases, a role that included tasks like gathering facts, performing legal research, and presenting arguments in representation of claimants).
- St. Louis County Counselor Office, 2006: (Legal Intern responsible for researching legal issues, drafting county ordinances, writing briefs, and attending court hearings).
- Crowe & Shanahan, 2004-2006: (Legal Clerk tasked with researching various legal issues regarding Social Security Disability claims, drafting pre-hearing briefs, attending hearings, and obtaining records and medical evidence to support claims).
