The son of a bowling-alley proprietor, Eric began working in the family business at a young age, learning the value of hard work and the importance of customer service. After attending public high school, Eric parlayed his athletic success into admission to an Ivy League college, graduating from Dartmouth in 1990. Returning home for law school, Eric set out to become a lawyer for real people, not big companies. In law school, he began doing volunteer legal work for prison inmates, which taught him that those who have a voice have a duty to speak up for those who are voiceless.