James R. Lawrence III

James helps clients solve business, legal, and regulatory problems across the full lifecycle of businesses and nonprofits, in the courtroom and the board room alike. As a former general counsel, his practice spans litigation, IP, complex commercial transactions, corporate governance, M&A, and labor & employment.

He litigates patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, unfair competition, and complex commercial disputes, serving as lead counsel in trials and appeals. A biomedical engineer, James leads Envisage's Health Care and Life Sciences practice and understands medical technology from a developer's perspective.

He served as Deputy General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and as Chief Counsel of the FDA, working during the COVID-19 pandemic on regulatory reform and drug pricing. That work gave him a rare perspective on the Administrative Procedure Act, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and HIPAA.

Among his litigation victories, James served as lead counsel for independent journalist and former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson in his lawsuit against Twitter, a path-breaking case that led to Berenson's reinstatement, the first known reinstatement of its kind, covered by national outlets and discussed on national podcasts.

A native of Raleigh, he earned a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, magna cum laude, from NC State and a J.D. with honors from UNC–Chapel Hill, where he was an Articles Editor on the North Carolina Law Review and a Judicial Extern to the Hon. Paul M. Newby on the NC Supreme Court.