Washington, DC (Aug. 17, 2016) -- Christopher Adams of Charleston, SC, was sworn in as Secretary of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) at the Association's 59th annual meeting in Palm Beach, FL, on August 13.

Adams launched his own practice, The Law Office of Christopher W. Adams, P.C., in 2007. Chris has represented clients all over the country in cases including white collar crimes, murder, and sex offenses. Before starting his own practice, Adams was a public defender for 15 years. Beginning in Charleston, SC, he and his family returned there in 2010 after being in Atlanta for 10 years.

In 2000, Adams joined the Southern Center for Human Rights, a nationally acclaimed non-profit law office in Atlanta that defends people facing the death penalty throughout the Deep South. He then became the founding director of the Office of the Georgia Capital Defender. While there, Adams and the office he managed helped to defend poor people accused of capital murder and during his tenure resolved 40 cases without a death verdict.

Adams is a life member of NACDL and is also a faculty member of The National Criminal Defense College (NCDC), and he gives numerous lectures around the country on topics such as death penalty defense, criminal law, and trial advocacy. He is also a co-founder and faculty for the National College of Capital Voir Dire College, and has taught criminal defense law classes at Emory University, Georgia State University, and the Charleston School of Law.

Adams is on the Law Alumni Board for Georgetown University where he earned his law degree in 1992.

Contacts

Ezra Dunkle-Polier, NACDL Public Affairs & Communications Assistant, (202) 465-7656 or edunkle-polier@nacdl.org for more information.

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is the preeminent organization advancing the mission of the criminal defense bar to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or wrongdoing. A professional bar association founded in 1958, NACDL's many thousands of direct members in 28 countries – and 90 state, provincial and local affiliate organizations totaling up to 40,000 attorneys – include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness and promoting a rational and humane criminal justice system.