Drew focuses his practice on general civil litigation and appeals. His litigation experience covers a wide array of substantive areas, including professional malpractice defense, complex business litigation, environmental litigation, and regulatory disputes involving state and local government entities. A substantial portion of Drew’s practice is devoted to representing other attorneys with respect to ethical and professional liability matters.
He also regularly represents clients with matters before North Carolina’s appellate courts. This experience includes briefing and arguing direct appeals, pursuing or defending against petitions for discretionary review, and serving as appellate co-counsel with attorneys who handled trial-level proceedings. Prior to joining the firm, Drew served for two years as a law clerk to Senior Associate Justice Mark D. Martin of the Supreme Court of North Carolina.
Drew has been an adjunct professor at the UNC School of Law since 2007, where he has taught an advanced course in appellate advocacy and an introductory course in legal writing and oral argument.
Representative Experience
Laws v. Priority Trustee Services of North Carolina, LLC
2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 8815 (4th Cir. 2010)
Successfully briefed and argued appeal involving a purported $11 million class action lawsuit against a law firm and the firm it hired to perform foreclosure sales. The plaintiffs had alleged that the relationship between the law firm and the foreclosure firm created a conflict of interest, and that therefore both firms had breached fiduciary duties to a potential class of thousands of borrowers. We moved to dismiss the complaint on the basis that the plaintiffs had impermissibly relied on State Bar Ethics Opinions to support their theory of liability, and the District Court dismissed the Complaint. The Fourth Circuit affirmed, holding for the first time in the Fourth Circuit that a violation of the ethics rules governing lawyers cannot be used in support of recovery in a civil action in North Carolina.
Muter v. Muter
689 S.E.2d 924 (N.C. Ct. App. 2010)
Represented client in appeal from a trial court’s denial of a motion to stay in which the adverse party had moved to stay proceedings in North Carolina on the grounds that the parties were in the midst of litigating an identical domestic action in Ohio. We argued that allowing parallel proceedings in two states was consistent with principles of interstate comity, and that our client was entitled to bring an identical action in his home state of North Carolina, where the substantive law was more favorable to him than in Ohio. The Court of Appeals held in our favor, allowing our client to proceed in North Carolina.
Terreco Properties, LLC v. Avahoula Resources, LLC
(AAA Arbitration 2009)
Represented North Carolina landowners in defense of multi-million dollar claims for lost profits, compensatory damages, and attorneys' fees concerning a failed venture to obtain permits for a post-Hurricane Katrina storm debris landfill on land our clients owned in Louisiana. The plaintiff, a start-up engineering and consulting company, alleged that our clients fraudulently induced it to enter the venture, then undermined the permit through unauthorized contacts with environmental regulators. After a multi-week hearing on the merits, all claims were dismissed, resulting in one of North Carolina’s largest defense verdicts of 2009.
“Communicate, Advocate, Persuade: the Definition of Appeals” – North Carolina Bar Association CLE, November 2009
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