Dave Efird brings senior-level experience to companies seeking to relocate or expand operations, including site selection and negotiating with the state and local officials on economic development incentives. He is the former General Counsel of the North Carolina Department of Commerce where he served as a lead negotiator on major economic development projects for the state. During his time there, Dave worked closely with corporations, local governments and state agencies to develop and close incentive deals that brought thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in investment to North Carolina.
As a key member of the firm’s economic development team, Dave focuses his practice full-time on the representation of both domestic and non-US clients in connection with economic development and incentive deals across multiple states. He is skilled in helping to maximize incentive awards and arrive at “win-win” solutions for clients making site selection decisions. With experience advising on some of the largest incentive deals on record, his client list includes multiple Fortune 100 companies, as well as small to mid-sized companies in both rural and urban settings. Whether his clients are looking to expand or relocate life science or manufacturing facilities, or are evaluating their corporate headquarters, lab or office presence, Dave provides hands-on, client-focused assistance from the project’s inception to closing.
Professional Activities
- North Carolina Economic Development Association
- North Carolina State Bar
- 10th Judicial District Bar
Experience
Any result the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.
- Represented a Fortune 100 company in incentive negotiations surrounding relocation of its global corporate headquarters.
- Led site selection and incentive negotiation efforts for a major life science contract development and manufacturing organization in multiple states and across multiple jurisdictions, leading to a record-breaking investment in the selected County.
- Represented a major auto-parts manufacturer in obtaining incentives from state and local governments in connection with its aggressive expansion into US.
- Led state negotiation efforts for incentives with a major Asian company in the largest business expansion ever to locate in rural North Carolina.
- Negotiated a record-breaking incentive award for a Fortune 100 company under North Carolina’s Transformative Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) program in connection with the formation of an East Coast headquarters and datacenter operation.
- Led site selection, incentives negotiations, and served as outside general counsel to a European manufacturer making its first foray into the US.
- Represented a well-known, publicly-traded tech company in its site selection for a major expansion of operations and extensive incentive packages.
- Negotiated lucrative incentive packages for a number of life science lab projects across the US.
Honors & Awards
- Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America (BL Rankings), Economic Development Law, 2023 - Present
