Erik Zimmerman Honored with 40 Under 40 Award

Robinson Bradshaw’s Erik R. Zimmerman will receive a 40 Under 40 Award from the Triangle Business Journal. The awards recognize the Triangle area’s “best and brightest business and community leaders who are making their mark” and who will “shape the Triangle in the years to come.”

A litigator at Robinson Bradshaw, Zimmerman guides clients through complex litigation and appeals, and helps companies, universities and individuals navigate antitrust suits, class actions and other high-stakes disputes in courts across the country. He co-chairs the firm’s Appeals Practice Group and is actively involved in the leadership of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Section, including co-chairing its CLE committee.

Zimmerman has an active pro bono practice, providing more than 300 hours of pro bono service to clients in 2020. He recently was part of a transformative pro bono matter that challenged the North Carolina Department of Revenue over its handling of $335 COVID-19 relief payments to parents, resulting in more than 25,000 families getting a second chance to apply for the aid. Zimmerman also recently won a pro bono case in the state Supreme Court on behalf of a tenant who was evicted from her public housing community without sufficient notice of the reason for her eviction. He serves on the Triangle Pro Bono Legal Council, which is part of the North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Commission. The Council convenes representatives of law firms in the Triangle to discuss ways to improve access to pro bono legal services in the area.

Zimmerman earned his law degree with distinction from Stanford Law School as a member of Order of the Coif and his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Harvard University as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Zimmerman served as a law clerk to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.