How Justin Timberlake’s hot-shot DWI lawyer made a fortune defending stars in trouble in the Hamptons

Justin Timberlake has hired one of the top lawyers on Long Island, with a reputation for helping high-profile clients who have gotten into trouble along the way.

Edward ‘Eddie’ Burke Jr. appeared stone-faced as he accompanied Timberlake out of the Sag Harbor courthouse on Tuesday, where the Prince of Pop was charged with suspected DWI.

But handling Timberlake’s high-profile legal matter isn’t exactly Burke’s first rodeo back east.

For decades, the smooth-talking attorney with a knack for client relations has taken on the legal troubles of stars like Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd, 1990s tabloid princess Lizzie Grubman, convicted Hamptons murderer Daniel Pelosi and disgraced NBC star Matt. Lauer.

Burke, who has vowed to “vigorously defend” Timberlake, is a fixture on the Hamptons social circuit — and not just when he shows up at the jail at odd hours to negotiate VIP requests.

He and his glamorous wife call Sag Harbor home, where they raise their three sons in a $5 million mansion. It is here that Burke often receives calls at 2 a.m. from prospective clients who have ended up in police custody.

Burke first became a household name in the Hamptons 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 made headlines for months after the incident in July 2001. The media flocked to 38-year-old attorney Burke’s front yard to try to create their next line.

‘The press camped outside. They called my house at all hours. Larry King wanted to show me. Geraldo Rivera too. It was unbelievable,” Burke told the BBC New York Times decades ago.

Burke’s rise to prominence in the early 2000s also included taking on cases from clients such as Daniel Pelosi – who was convicted of murdering an investment banker with whose wife he had an affair. He also represented local real estate agent Leslie Jennemann, who was accused of killing a migrant worker in a collision from which she allegedly fled.

His clients, especially in the early stages of his career, all agree that he has a unique soft touch that is a real added value during moments of high stress.

Grubman, whose case was in the pages of the New York Post and other newspapers all summer, said her attorney was a huge comfort during her ordeal.

“I can’t even tell you how helpful he was,” she told the Times.

‘In addition to my lawyer, he was my confidante, my friend and my psychiatrist. When I cried in the middle of the night, which was probably almost every night since the accident, Eddie was the one I called.”

Burke is a fixture on the Hamptons legal scene, where he has made a name for himself over decades defending VIP visitors who find themselves in local trouble

Burke is pictured here with his wife Patricia at the sixth annual Hamptons Paddle and Party for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The pair are a fixture in the local social circuit

Burke’s home in Sag Harbor is an approximately $5.5 million mansion where he and his wife are raising their three sons

Since then, Burke has defended increasingly high-profile clients, including Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd, who had just taken a position as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets in 2013.

A year earlier, Kidd, several tequilas deep, smashed his Cadillac SUV into a power pole in Southampton.

Burke said his client was returning from a charity event prior to 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 that Kidd took responsibility for his actions the night of the crash.

“Jason knows he was very lucky that night. He was very lucky no one got hurt,” Burke said.

The basketball legend was eventually able to plead guilty to a drunk driving charge, in exchange for which he agreed to speak to local Long Island high school students about the dangers of drunk driving.

In addition to other celebrity relationships, Burke has long represented former Today Show host Matt Lauer in a number of legal situations. The pair are pictured here in 2019, following Lauer’s dramatic ouster from NBC in the wake of a slew of sexual misconduct allegations

In the early 2000s, Burke took on several high-profile cases, including the murder trial of Daniel Pelosi, who was ultimately convicted of killing his wife’s ex-husband, a wealthy financier with a home in the Hamptons.

More recently, Burke acted as a confidante to disgraced NBC star Matt Lauer, who retreated to his sprawling Sag Harbor mansion after being ousted from his old network at the height of the #MeToo era.

Years before Lauer’s demise, Burke represented him in a public dispute with neighbors. The argument involved Lauer’s request that a row of trees be placed between their houses to avoid spooking Lauer’s horses.

In his personal life, Burke is an important part of the East End.

He owns a beautiful family home in Sag Harbor, where he and his wife, Patricia Burke, raise their children.

From his latest client, Burke, 59, released a statement through his representatives:

‘Mr. Burke looks forward to vigorously defending Mr. Timberlake against these allegations. He will have a lot to say at the right time.

“He is currently awaiting full discovery by the district attorney’s office,” it said.

Here, Burke (second from right) is pictured escorting his client, NBA all-star and then-Brooklyn Nets head coach Jason Kidd, out of court following a plea deal he made after Kidd was arrested for driving under the influence, which resulted in a single car crash in Southampton

Timberlake, 43, was arrested by authorities in Sag Harbor around midnight Tuesday after he blew through a stop sign and allegedly swerved while behind the wheel of his 2025 BMW.

The singer, who is currently in the middle of the first leg of his global tour, reportedly refused to take a blood alcohol test three times after being taken to the police station. According to the police report, he claimed to have drunk one martini.

The father-of-two was spotted at The American Hotel earlier in the evening, where he was reportedly dining and knocking back a few drinks with his friends before leaving in his SUV.

When he was stopped, officers say the star’s eyes were glassy and bloodshot and he smelled of alcohol. He subsequently performed poorly on field sobriety tests.

Neither Timberlake nor his representatives issued a statement following the arrest.

But Timberlake’s star lawyer will surely have a lot to say on his behalf soon.