Born in Queens, New York, in 1970, Brad Bannon grew up in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and attended the University of South Carolina at Columbia. After graduating with a degree in English in May 1993, Brad began to study law at Campbell University in August 1994. In December 1995, during his second year of law school, he joined the firm as a research assistant and clerk to founding partner Joseph B. Cheshire V. During law school, Brad earned the Book Award in Eighth Amendment Death Penalty Litigation and was selected to represent the school in regional and national trial and appellate advocacy competitions.

After graduating from Campbell and being admitted to practice law in North Carolina in 1997, he remained at the firm as an attorney in the criminal trial defense and appeals section. Since then, he has been admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the Eastern and Middle Districts of North Carolina. He attended the National Criminal Defense College at Mercer Law School in July 1999, the Capital College for defense of death penalty cases sponsored by the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (NCATL) in April 2003, and the Advance Capital College in April 2005.

Brad’s practice focuses in criminal trial defense and appeals in North Carolina’s state and federal courts. He also works with Alan Schneider in the Professional License Defense section of the firm. Brad has made presentations at various Continuing Legal Education seminars and has lectured students at Campbell Law School on criminal law and ethics issues, and he occasionally writes on those topics for various publications, his most recent articles appearing in the Raleigh News & Observer (Justice For All Means Opening the Files, April 20, 2004) and the NCATL magazine TRIALBriefs (Pretrial Publicity: Know the Rules , December 2003, and Advocating For Those Left Behind: The Need for Discovery Reform in Non-Capital Post-conviction Cases, February 2005, with Maitri “Mike” Klinkosum).

In addition to private practice, Brad also serves indigent clients on the court-appointed lists for capital cases in Wake County and is on the committee which screens attorney applicants to serve on the indigent appointment lists for Wake County.

Brad is a member of the Board of Governors of the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, is the current Chair of the Academy’s Ethics Committee, and is the Immediate Past Chair of the Academy’s Criminal Defense Section. In 2005, Brad received the Academy’s annual Ebbie Award to honor his extraordinary service to the Academy’s mission of protecting people’s rights. Brad is also a member of the Executive Council of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section, as well as the Section’s Legislative Chair. He is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section.

In October of 2005, upon the nomination of the North Carolina State Bar Council, Governor Michael F. Easley appointed Brad to serve on the five-member North Carolina Inmate Grievance Resolution Board for a four-year term.
 
In May of 2008, upon the nomination of the North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services, Brad was appointed to serve a three-year term on the North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services Board of Directors.

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