Drew Clark

Of Counsel

Washington, DC
2000 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Suite 5300
202-370-5314

Drew Clark practices at the intersection of telecommunications, policy and the law. Based in Best Best & Krieger LLP’s Washington, D.C. office, Drew puts his experience to work for public agencies in the areas of Internet technology, broadband deployment and intellectual property by drafting and negotiating contracts and addressing legal and policy issues. He is of counsel in the firm’s Municipal Law practice group.

Drew works with cities, special districts and private companies on planning, financing and coordinating efforts of the many partners necessary to construct broadband infrastructure and deploy “Smart City” applications. He has advised both municipal and rural clients on the legal and policy options for building networks. These options include the open access model, franchise agreements and public-private partnerships.

An early advocate of enhanced broadband for all, Drew founded the Broadband Breakfast Club, a Washington, D.C.-based forum that met monthly, frequently drawing members of Congress and administration officials as speakers. The group helped drive the debate around broadband investments under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. He also has served as executive director of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois under Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. There, he led a combined federal and state effort of more than $350 million in fiber-optic and wireless infrastructure investments, including broadband mapping, economic development and digital literacy training. Under his direction, the state launched the Illinois Broadband Innovation Fund and the FCC awarded one of its first broadband lifeline grants to rural Western and Southern Illinois.

Drew’s telecommunications background also touches the journalism and academic fields. He was the opinion editor of the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, for which he still writes a weekly column, and was a senior writer, columnist, moderator and editor for publications and forums of the National Journal Group, which includes Congress Daily and Technology Daily. He’s worked as assistant director of George Mason University School of Law’s Information Economy Project and as an adjunct professor of journalism at Iona College.

Drew is currently president of the Rural Telecommunications Congress, and serves on the board of a charter elementary school. He and his wife are the parents of six children, ages one through 16 years. He is an avid marathoner, having twice qualified for and ran the Boston Marathon.

Education

• George Mason University School of Law, J.D.
• Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, M.S.
• Swarthmore College, B.A., with honors

Bar Admissions

• Illinois
• Utah

Memberships

• Illinois State Bar Association
• Federal Communications Bar Association

Languages

• Portuguese