Bio

Drew Erteschik focuses on high-stakes litigation. Clients trust Drew to take the lead on their most significant matters, especially those with challenging or novel legal issues. Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business has profiled Drew’s “highly acclaimed practice,” and Benchmark Litigation has named him a “state litigation star.” He has also been repeatedly recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, North Carolina Super Lawyers, and Business North Carolina magazine’s “Legal Elite.” In 2020, Drew was inducted into Business North Carolina magazine’s Legal Elite “Hall of Fame.” In recent months, he has successfully represented a coalition of craft breweries in a high-profile challenge to beer laws, won a large settlement for physical therapists and their patients in a federal antitrust case, represented the North Carolina Department of Revenue before the U.S. Supreme Court, won a $5 million settlement for a corporate plaintiff in a case against Garden & Gun Magazine, and, as lead trial counsel for a whistleblower plaintiff, won the largest jury verdict in the history of the state’s whistleblower law. Drew is frequently called upon to litigate cases that attract significant public interest. North Carolina’s largest state agencies, cities, and counties have retained him to handle some of their most sensitive and closely watched cases. He has represented these public clients before the highest appellate tribunals, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Drew also represents private-sector clients whose business interests intersect with the government. He has a track record of beating the state and federal governments in court, and a number of his cases have established landmark precedents on the scope of government power. On multiple occasions, he has persuaded courts to strike down laws as unconstitutional. A substantial portion of Drew’s practice is also devoted to representing businesses in bet-the-company litigation. His clients include Fortune 500 companies, trade associations, and regional businesses, and he frequently appears before North Carolina’s specialized Business Court. In all manner of high-exposure cases, including class actions, he has persuaded courts to dismiss lawsuits shortly after they were filed. He also represents both plaintiffs and defendants in qui tam lawsuits under the False Claims Act and related state laws that encourage whistleblowers to report fraud. Drew’s practice is split between the trial and appellate courts. He thrives on the intensity of multi-week jury trials, and he has tried cases to successful verdicts in state court, federal court, and the North Carolina Business Court, as well as before administrative tribunals and arbitration panels. At the same time, he has built a substantial appellate practice, and is regularly retained by lawyers outside of the firm to brief and argue their appeals. He is a board-certified specialist in appellate practice, and has served as an adjunct professor of appellate advocacy at the UNC School of Law. He began his career clerking for Justice (later Chief Justice) Mark D. Martin of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Drew is active in the Bar. He is the chair of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Appellate Rules Committee, which makes recommendations to the North Carolina Supreme Court on issues of appellate procedure. He is also the co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Judicial Division Amicus Committee, which evaluates the potential for amicus participation by the ABA in cases involving the judiciary. Two of North Carolina’s Chief Justices, a Republican and a Democrat, have separately appointed him to three-year terms on the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism. Drew also serves on a number of boards and commissions focused on improving the quality of justice in North Carolina.