A key partner now at Haddonfield-based Archer Law, Drew Burach is emerging today as one of Southern New Jersey's leading divorce lawyers. Remarkably, at 40, he and his practice are already well established, both at his firm, where he's spent his entire career, and in the region's legal network and courthouses. Steady, detail-oriented and quietly competitive, Burach (pronounced Bur-ACK) in many respects is the latest in a line of highly respected and influential family-law practitioners at Archer: 15 years ago he was recruited to the firm by Lee Hymerling, the now-retired Archer lawyer who influenced the profession for a generation. Burach today works closely with Bill Thompson, head of the firm's 7-lawyer matrimonial law department.

For Burach, who grew up in Freehold and later in Manalapan in Monmouth County, it was an early life in a tight-knit and naturally competitive family; he and his two younger brothers had a special devotion to basketball. "Our dad set up a court in our backyard, and then in our frontyard - we were a real basketball family." In fact, Burach's father, Lee, a Brooklyn native who spent two decades carpooling to his job in Manhattan's Garment District, never let go of his love for the game - he played for Pace University - and passed it on to his kids, and to the township. "My dad coached all our teams, took us to Nets games at the Meadowlands. He was always doing something for the community." Years later Lee Burach would be inducted into Manalapan's Hall of Fame for his community service; today he's well known in Monmouth County real estate circles. (Burach's younger brother, Todd, earned a spot as a sophomore walk-on on Jim Boeheim's Syracuse Orange team.) Mostly, though, Drew was a history buff, taking an early interest in US politics, social justice and sports-related history. He went on to the University of Maryland, drawn in part, he says, to Washington, DC, and its political cauldron. And the school's large campus "offered so much to an undergraduate." He served as president of his fraternity (one colleague: Eric Swalwell, today a California congressman and, in 2019, a Democratic presidential candidate) and majored in government and politics; he even sat in the Senate gallery in the Capitol during Bill Clinton's impeachment trial, in 1998. Still, Burach says, "I never saw myself as a politician or going into government." Instead, he went straight to law school, choosing Rutgers in part for the opportunity to return home to New Jersey. There many of his lifelong interests converged, and he excelled: By the middle of law school he was groomed for leadership roles; in Camden he'd head over to Philadelphia - "really just for fun" - and tour Independence Hall. Right away he took and passed the New York and New Jersey bars, and spent a year as a law clerk to Family Law Judge Vincent Segal, whose court covered Atlantic and Cape May counties. But, still living in Camden County, he got a call from Archer's Hymerling; within a few weeks he'd landed an associate position. "Archer has always been where any young lawyer wants to go - for me it was a no-brainer." Family law, he says, was "really the only specialty I wanted to practice. It just had every dimension: It touches many aspects of the law, and every aspect of people's lives. There's a real energy about it." In the early years at Archer, working weekends and first-in in the morning, he attended trials and courtroom motions with Hymerling; "we'd drive together to the courthouse, talking about the case, coming and going." Burach, peers say, brings excellent and precise writing skills, a key to advancement not simply in a large firm, but in the profession. "Words matter," he says. "What goes on paper really is at the core to effective representation." He was named a partner in 2016. Archer, a firm with nearly 200 lawyers in eight offices, "feels much smaller, but the legal resources put us at another level." In recent years Burach returned to Rutgers law school as adjunct professor teaching family law procedure; "I stopped for now - coaching my childrens' soccer teams is a personal priority, and that's an opportunity that lasts only so long." Now an experienced litigator, last year Burach completed a certification in economic mediation, a key role in resolving many divorce matters; he has qualified to be added to the State of New Jersey's roster of economic mediators. "There's a balance of litigation and mediation in our work, and that's very helpful in client outcomes." In part because of Burach's ties to Monmouth County, his practice today takes him statewide, no small advantage for a lawyer still early in his career. And he's still close to his parents and brothers - brother Ross is an author and illustrator of children's books living in Brooklyn, and Todd, who graduated with honors from Syracuse, is now in banking and finance. Burach has long been active in his synagogue, Temple Beth Sholom; he serves on its board of directors today. Burach's wife Ilene is a physician and radiologist at Shore Medical Center. They and their two young children, a son and daughter, live in Cherry Hill.