Harvard University
Kenneth W. Erickson was born on March 7, 1947, in Grafton, North Dakota, United States. He was the son of Kenneth H. Erickson and Carol (Benson) Erickson.
North Dakota is a state in the north-central United States, and his birthplace lies within that state. His early life connects his family background in North Dakota with the education and professional careers he pursued on the East Coast and in the Upper Midwest.
Erickson studied at Harvard University, which was founded in 1636 as Harvard College and is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. He received a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude in 1969, a degree conferred through the undergraduate college that has long anchored the university's liberal arts teaching.
Following his service in the United States Army, he returned to Harvard for legal study. He received a Bachelor of Laws magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1975. Harvard Law School, founded in 1817, is one of the oldest law schools in the United States.
Erickson's documented professional life began with military service. He served as a first lieutenant in the United States Army from 1969 to 1972, a period that included service in Vietnam. The Army was the land-warfare branch of the United States armed forces, and it deployed large numbers of officers to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.
After his discharge, he was an associate at Dorsey & Whitney in Minneapolis from 1975 to 1977. The firm was formed in 1912 in Minneapolis as a small two-person practice and grew into a large general practice firm. Erickson was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1979, and his admissions also include the United States Courts of Appeals for the First Circuit and the District of Columbia Circuit.
In 1979 he joined Ropes & Gray in Boston as an associate. The firm was founded in Boston in 1865 by John Codman Ropes and John Chipman Gray, both Harvard Law School graduates, and it adopted its present name again in 1961 after several name changes. He became a partner of the firm in 1984 and served as its hiring partner from 1992.
Law360 documents his cases as a Ropes & Gray attorney in 2009 and 2010, including insurance-related litigation in federal courts in New York and Indiana.
Erickson married Alice Wimer on September 23, 1984.
His parents were Kenneth H. Erickson and Carol Erickson, who was born Carol Benson.
