Justin Timberlake has hired one of the foremost defense attorneys on Long Island, with a reputation for helping high-profile clients who have gotten into trouble on the road.
‘Eddie’ Burke Jr. appeared stony-faced as he accompanied Timberlake out of Sag Harbor courthouse Tuesday where the prince of pop was arraigned following a suspected DWI.
But handling Timberlake’s high-profile legal issue is hardly Burke’s first rodeo out east.
For decades, the smooth-talking attorney with a gift for client relations has taken on the legal dust-ups of stars like Dallas Mavericks’ head coach Jason Kidd, noughties tabloid princess Lizzie Grubman, convicted Hamptons murderer Daniel Pelosi, and disgraced NBC star Matt Lauer.
Burke, who has promised to ‘vigorously defend’ Timberlake, is a staple on the Hamptons social circuit – and not just when he shows up at odd hours to the county jail to begin negotiating VIP pleas.
He and his glamorous wife call Sag Harbor home where they raise their three sons in a $5million mansion. It is here Burke often gets 2am calls from future clients who have found themselves in police custody.
Burke first became a Hamptons household name when he took on the case of Lizzie Grubman, a 30-year-old publicist who plowed her father’s Mercedes through a group of people and then fled the scene.
The story was fodder for tabloid headlines for months following the incident in July of 2021. Media flocked to the front lawn of 38-year-old attorney Burke to try and scoop their next line.
‘The press was camped outside. They called my home at all hours. Larry King wanted me on show. Geraldo Rivera, too. It was unbelievable,’ Burke told the New York Times decades ago.
Burke’s early 2000’s rise to prominence also included taking on the cases of clients like Daniel Pelosi – who was convicted of killing an investment banker whose wife he was having an affair with. He also represented local real estate broker Leslie Jennemann, who was accused of killing a migrant worker in a hit-and-run, from which she allegedly fled.
His clients, especially at early junctures of his career, all agree he possesses a uniquely gentle touch that is a true value add during high-stress moments.
Grubman, whose case was splashed across the pages of the New York Post and other outlets all summer, said her attorney acted as a massive comfort throughout her ordeal.
‘I can’t even tell you how supportive he was,’ she told the Times.
‘In addition to being my lawyer, he was my confidant, my friend and my psychiatrist. When I was crying in the middle of the night, and that was probably almost every night since the accident, Eddie was the one I called.’
Since then, Burke has gone on to defend increasingly high-profile clients, including Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd, who, in 2013, had just taken a position as the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.
One year prior, Kidd, several tequilas deep, smashed his Cadillac SUV into a utility pole in Southampton.
Burke said his client was returning from a charity function ahead of the crash. A police report noted that the 10-time NBA all-star and Olympic gold medalist was unsteady on his feet, had bloodshot and glassy eyes, and smelled of liquor.
Burke argued Kidd took responsibility for his actions the night of the crash.
‘Jason knows he was very, very lucky that night. He was very lucky no one was hurt,’ said Burke.
The basketball legend was eventually able to plead guilty to a misdemeanor drunken driving charge in exchange for which he agreed to speak to local Long Island high school students about the dangers of drunk driving.
More recently, Burke acted as a close confidante to disgraced NBC star Matt Lauer, who retreated to his sprawling Sag Harbor mansion after being ousted at his longtime network at the height of the #MeToo era.
Years before Lauer’s downfall, Burke represented him in a public dispute with neighbors. The argument concerned Lauer’s request to place a line of trees between their houses that would prevent Lauer’s horses from getting spooked.
In his personal life, Burke is a concrete staple of the East End.
He owns a stunning family mansion in Sag Harbor, where he and his wife, Patricia Burke, raise their children.
Of his newest client, Burke, 59, released a statement via his representatives:
‘Mr. Burke looks forward to vigorously defending Mr. Timberlake against these allegations. He will have a lot to say at the appropriate time.
‘He is currently awaiting full discovery from the DA’s office,’ it read.
Timberlake, 43, was busted by authorities in Sag Harbor around midnight on Tuesday after blowing through a stop sign and allegedly swerving while behind the wheel of his 2025 BMW.
The singer, who is currently in the middle of the first leg of his worldwide tour, reportedly declined to take a blood-alcohol test three times after being taken to the police station. According to the police report, he claimed to have had one martini.
The father-of-two was seen earlier in the evening at The American Hotel, reportedly dining and knocking back several drinks with his friends before leaving in his SUV.
When he was pulled over, cops say the star’s eyes were glassy and bloodshot and that he wreaked of alcohol. He subsequently performed poorly on field sobriety tests.
Neither Timberlake, nor his representatives have delivered a statement following the arrest.
But Timberlake’s star attorney will surely soon be saying lots on his behalf.