Eric Baxter

Eric Baxter joined Becket as senior counsel in 2011. Since then he has represented religious organizations and individuals in a wide array of religious liberty disputes at both the trial and appellate level. Eric has extensive experience fighting efforts under state Blaine amendments to exclude religious organizations and individuals from participating on equal terms in the public square. He also regularly advises religious institutions of higher education in defending their religious missions against government encroachment. Before joining Becket, Eric was a partner at Arent Fox LLP in Washington, DC, where he maintained a commercial complex litigation practice representing clients primarily in employment, intellectual property, and biotechnology disputes. He also served for many years as outside counsel to a DC church and its affiliated school. From 2000 to 2002, Eric clerked for the Honorable Robert H. Cleland in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit). Eric received a B.A. in Russian Literature and Linguistics from Brigham Young University and graduated magna cum laude from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU. Eric speaks Russian and some Spanish. He and his wife have seven children, one grandchild, and an amateur family bluegrass band.