We use Civil 3D, so we have more tools. Typically we get a batch of points in state plane coordinates. That means you can draw a line anywhere along the Y axis of those coordinates and get a fairly accurate North. It's not totally accurate because, obviously, that same vertical line is parallel at the ends of your state, which can be hundreds of miles apart. That's what a datum is for, I guess, to reconcile the grid with the surface of the Earth.
This seems like a simple problem, but it's a nightmare if you don't have enough data. What I'll typically do is get a screen grab from an aerial map, making sure it's oriented to North, at a known scale, with a graphic scale included. Add that image to the drawing as an Xref at rotation 0. Scale it so that the graphic scale is correct. Then the fun part: find locations that match your drawing and line them up. Then the nightmare part: keep in mind that aerial images aren't always taken from directly above that area, so there's going to be some skew--and you have no way of knowing what that skew factor is. Sometimes you have to decide which points are more important to get right and let the rest be off. There's a command named ALIGN, which is very handy here: pick two or three points from the image and the corresponding points from the drawing; decide whether to scale the image; and watch the magic. With a drone you could get an image from a known spot, but not everyone has access to a drone.
Other strategies: look for benchmarks in your drawing. In the US there's a system of markers placed by the Geodetic Survey. Surveyors often begin their locating from a benchmark, geodetic or otherwise. What you're trying to do is find three points that will define a plane. The other strategy only works if you know some property corners or can locate them: get a plat (not a deed, those cost money) for a piece of property. It will include bearings and distances for each border line. That gives you distance and direction between your property corners, so you can define your plane.
Of course all these strategies depend on the drawing being in World UCS. You sometimes find a Plan North, and you can create a UCS to match that. Orienting the drawing to some other UCS will lead to problems down the line, I've been there.