NCAJ Elects Andy Banzhoff 49th President

Andy Banzhoff of Devereux & Banzhoff, PLLC in Asheville will begin a one-year term as the 49^th president of NCAJ on July 1. The NCAJ membership elected Banzhoff on Saturday, June 17, during the NCAJ Annual Meeting, held in Charlotte. 

In his remarks after being elected, Banzhoff emphasized the common purpose that the organization’s civil and criminal defense attorneys share. NCAJ is one of the few trial lawyer associations to include plaintiffs’ attorneys and criminal defense attorneys.

“The members of this organization participate in legal proceedings in different venues, in different locales and before different tribunals, but we are all zealously advocating for the rights of our clients,” he said. “While we are unique amongst trial lawyer organizations nationally, the common thread that binds us is that we all fight on behalf of individuals against institutional power. It is this shared common bond that allows us to work together for the mutual benefit of our clients’, our practices and ultimately the people of the state of North Carolina.”

A partner in the firm of Devereux & Banzhoff, PLLC, he focuses his practice primarily on criminal trial and appellate litigation. He graduated cum laude from the University of Tampa in 1995 with a bachelor of arts in political science and obtained a juris doctor from Wake Forest University School of Law in 1999.

Banzhoff is a Board Certified Specialist in State and Federal Criminal Law by the N.C. State Bar. He has served as president of the Buncombe County Criminal Defense Attorney’s Association, as chair of the NCAJ Criminal Defense Section, as a member of the NCAJ Board of Governors, a member of the NCAJ Executive Committee, as a legal affairs vice-president for NCAJ and as chair of the NCAJ PAC. Banzhoff continues to serve as a member of the CJA Panel Selection Committee for the Western District of North Carolina.