Eric R. Poole is the Managing Partner of Burrill Watkins, where he provides strategic, operational, and legal leadership to the firm and its clients. Eric brings nearly two decades of experience at the intersection of law, healthcare, private equity–backed platform operations, and large-scale enterprise management. His background uniquely positions him to advise founders, executives, and investors navigating complex regulatory environments while scaling sophisticated businesses.

Professional Background 

Eric has served in senior executive and legal leadership roles across high-growth healthcare and professional services organizations. Most recently, he has co-founded businesses where he has advised emerging healthcare platforms on strategy, compliance, and operational execution. Prior to that, Eric served in areas of compliance operations and strategic operations. 

Eric previously spent more than four years with a national private equity platform, one of the nation’s leading optometric management services organizations, supporting over 290 locations and approximately $800 million in revenue. Through his tenure, he has served as Chief Legal Officer and in operational executive roles, Eric was a core member of the executive team, responsible for building and scaling the company’s legal, compliance, IT, real estate, and infrastructure functions from the ground up. He led multiple enterprise-wide transformational initiatives, including the implementation of a new enterprise practice management system, development of an enterprise data warehouse, and the outsourcing of revenue cycle management to a national provider.

Earlier in his career, Eric spent more than eight years at Essilor, serving in progressively senior leadership roles, including Director of Managed Care, National Account Manager, and Brand Manager for Transitions. At Essilor, Eric held P&L responsibility exceeding $500 million and led national managed care partnerships, strategic planning initiatives, and cross-functional teams delivering complex commercial programs for large enterprise customers.

Eric began his legal career as an associate at Blank Rome LLP, where he represented private equity funds and financial institutions in complex commercial real estate transactions ranging from $10 million to $1.7 billion.

Eric is licensed to practice law in Texas, with Alabama licensure pending. He is known for his pragmatic, business-forward approach to legal and operational problem-solving, and for serving as a trusted advisor to leadership teams seeking to align growth, compliance, and execution.