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Eric T. Davis
Attorney at Law

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Eric Davis grew up in the Black Hills of South Dakota. After college, Eric served for seven years as the executive director of the Booth Society, a citizen-based nonprofit associated with the D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery and Archives in Spearfish.

In 2007, Eric ran for and was elected to a seat on the Spearfish City Council, where he was later elected Council Vice President and appointed chair of the City's Legal and Finance Committee.

In 2010, Eric attended the University of South Dakota School of Law where he was managing editor of the South Dakota Law Review and a faculty research assistant. After law school, Eric joined a large general-practice law firm with a focus on litigation, insurance defense, local government representation, and complex real estate transactions.

In 2015, Eric was hired to be city attorney for a first-class South Dakota municipality. He later served on the board of the South Dakota municipal attorneys association. Eric joined the Nelson Law team in 2019 where his practice focuses on civil litigation and criminal defense. Eric regularly practices before the South Dakota Supreme Court and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Eric enjoys spending his free time outdoors. He particularly enjoys fly fishing, whitewater rafting, backpacking, upland hunting, camping, hiking, skiing, biking, and floating various kinds of boats down rivers.

Eric is licensed to practice law in South Dakota and admitted to practice in all courts in South Dakota and the United States District Court.

Education

University of South Dakota School of Law
Juris Doctor, 2013

University of South Dakota 
B.A., English, 2004

Legal Biography 

Associate Attorney, Nelson Law 
2019- Present

City Attorney, City of Spearfish 
2015-2018

Associate Attorney, Brady Pluimer, PC 
2013- 2015

Activities and Affiliations

South Dakota Bar Association, Member
South Dakota Trial Lawyers Association, Member
South Dakota Criminal Defense Bar, Member

Bar Admission 

South Dakota 
District Court of South Dakota

 

Publications

Evaluating the Potential Conflicts
of Interest of Municipal Elected Officials:
A Statutory and Constitutional Analysis

63 S.D. L. REV. 521
Curb Appeal: Municipal Special Assessments
After Hubbard V. City of Pierre

57 S.D. L. REV. 443

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