Bar Admissions

District of Columbia

North Carolina 

Education

Stanford University, J.D., with distinction, 2007, Order of the Coif; Articles Editor, Stanford Law Review, 2006-07

Harvard College, B.A., summa cum laude, 2004, Phi Beta Kappa; Detur Prize; John Harvard Scholarship

Profile

Erik Zimmerman guides clients through complex litigation and appeals. He has helped companies, universities and individuals navigate antitrust suits, class actions, constitutional cases and other high-stakes disputes in courts across the country.

Erik has particular experience in appellate litigation. He often joins cases for the first time on appeal and helps his clients overturn unfavorable rulings from the lower courts.

Erik has argued appeals in the Fourth Circuit and the North Carolina appellate courts. He has also filed numerous briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and appellate courts nationwide.

Erik co-chairs the firm’s Appeals Practice Group and serves on the North Carolina Bar Association’s Appellate Rules Committee and Appellate Practice Section Council.

Before joining Robinson Bradshaw, Erik clerked for Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the Fourth Circuit, and practiced with Gibson Dunn in Washington, D.C.

Honors & Awards

Clerkships

  • Law Clerk, The Honorable John G. Roberts Jr., Chief Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, 2009-10
  • Law Clerk, The Honorable J. Harvie Wilkinson III, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit, 2008-09

Experience

Experience

  • Appellate and Constitutional

  • Successfully argued an appeal in the North Carolina Supreme Court for a technology company on personal jurisdiction in a business dispute.

  • Successfully argued an appeal in the North Carolina Supreme Court on the rights of tenants under the federal public housing program.

  • Represented an agricultural cooperative in the North Carolina Court of Appeals and Supreme Court in an appeal of the entry of partial summary judgment.

  • Represents plaintiffs in litigation over North Carolina constitutional standards that apply to congressional and legislative redistricting.

  • Represented North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper in litigation challenging the legislature's ballot language relating to proposed amendments to the North Carolina Constitution. Successfully argued a motion for preliminary injunction before a three-judge panel.

  • Submitted several cert petitions and amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court on various issues, including issues of constitutional law and federal preemption.

  • Successfully appealed a judgment of nearly $100 million to the Fourth Circuit in an insurance contract dispute.

  • Antitrust and Competition

  • Represented the largest health care provider in the Carolinas in securing denial of preliminary injunctive relief in an action brought by a public company related to a $100 million anesthesiology contract.

  • Defended a leading research university in a class action in North Carolina federal court involving an alleged no-hire agreement.

  • Defended a large drywall company in multidistrict class action litigation involving antitrust claims brought by direct and indirect purchasers.

  • Defended a large poultry company in class action litigation involving antitrust claims brought in North Carolina federal court.

  • Represented Fresenius Medical Care in the $2.15 billion sale of Sound Physicians, a hospitalist company, to a consortium led by Summit Partners. Transaction was cleared without the issuance of a Second Request.

  • Class Actions

  • Defended a large financial institution in a proposed class action concerning its account fees. Successfully argued a motion to dismiss the suit.

  • Defended an aerospace company in a class action brought by employees and labor unions under ERISA and the Labor Management Relations Act.

  • Represented the independent directors of a financial services company in a class action involving ERISA claims brought by participants in the company's retirement plan.

  • Defended an accounting firm against class action claims under the federal securities laws.

  • Complex Commercial Litigation

  • Defended a leading research university in the North Carolina Business Court in a case involving claims for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and unfair and deceptive trade practices.

  • Defended a leading research university against litigation in the North Carolina Business Court involving allegations of research misconduct.

  • Represented the plaintiffs in a North Carolina Business Court case involving claims of misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriation of corporate opportunity in the used textile recycling industry. Successfully argued against the defendants' motions to dismiss. New Friendship Used Clothing Collection, LLC v. Katz, 2017 NCBC 71 (N.C. Super. Ct. 2017).

  • Secured dismissal of a False Claims Act suit against a health insurance company.

  • Obtained dismissal of a multibillion-dollar breach of contract action against a social networking company.

News & Events

News

Events

Insights

Affiliations

Professional Affiliations

  • U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Liability Reform Litigation Advisory Committee, 2020-present
  • North Carolina Bar Association, Appellate Practice Section Council, 2018-present; CLE Chair, 2019-21
  • North Carolina Bar Association, Appellate Rules Committee, 2017-present
  • North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Commission, Triangle Pro Bono Legal Council, 2017-present
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