Washington, DC (Aug. 7, 2023) – Andrew S. Birrell was sworn in as First Vice President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) at the Association’s annual meeting in Chicago on August 5.
Birrell is the Senior Partner of Birrell Law Firm, PLLC in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers—an honor limited to the top 1% of lawyers in the State. He is a Fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers. He is a Life Member of NACDL and has previously served as NACDL Second Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and on the Board of Directors. Birrell is the 8th Circuit Representative for NACDL’s Lawyers Assistance Strike Force, and has served as a member of the Audit, Budget, Fourth Amendment Advocacy, and Strategic Litigation Capacity Building Committees, and as Secretary for the NACDL Foundation for Criminal Justice (NFCJ).
Birrell was the first Chairperson of the Minnesota State Bar Association Criminal Law Certification Board and was the first lawyer in Minnesota to be certified by the Minnesota State Bar Association as a Board-Certified Criminal Law Specialist. He is a Board-Certified Criminal Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and a Member of the Million Dollar Advocate Forum. In addition to being selected as a perennial Super Lawyer, he has four times been named one of Minnesota's Top 100 Super Lawyers, most recently in 2022. He is a Past President of the Minnesota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Birrell is available to represent clients in all phases of criminal law and related matters from grand jury investigations through appeals in federal and state courts throughout the United States. He represents clients in the most significant and difficult white-collar criminal law matters, including those involving: RICO, money laundering, conspiracy, tax charges, mail and wire fraud, bank fraud, and other related allegations.
An accomplished and seasoned appellate lawyer, Birrell has argued before the United States Supreme Court in Washington, DC, the federal appeals court, and has won reversals of convictions and orders for new trials in the Minnesota Court of Appeals and Supreme Court.
He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and the Antioch School of Law.
Contacts
Kate Holden, NACDL Public Affairs and Communications Associate, (202) 465-7624 or kholden@nacdl.org
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 legal system.