Michael A. DeMayo is the founding and managing partner of DeMayo Law Offices, LLP (DLAW) and DeMayo Law Group, PLLC (exclusively handling Camp Lejeune Litigation). Since opening his Personal Injury, Consumer Protection, and Complex Mass Torts Law Offices over thirty years ago his vision statement has been squarely focused on putting the needs and interests of clients and team members first. He explains that he had a very simple and understandable vision for his plaintiffs’ law firm from day one, “Put our client’s and team members interests first, and everything else will follow!”
Mr. DeMayo understands that the world is a rapidly changing place and that technology coupled with social media drives both perception and “reality” for much of our society. Often justice and equality does not balance out for individuals when in competition against powerful corporate interests and sometimes the only option for many is to turn to DeMayo Law Offices as the equalizer. DeMayo Law’s role and responsibility is holding powerful industries and corporations accountable to individuals for the harm they cause. Representing individuals and family members that have suffered serious catastrophic personal injuries and significant economic loss or have been killed as a result of the negligence and damage that has resulted is our mission. Mr. DeMayo reminds us that it’s a right that we all have to live free from harm and injury, moreover when big companies put “profits over people” bad things happen! DLAW ensures that we hold those that cause the harm accountable because after all: “A right without a remedy is just a suggestion™!”
Mr. DeMayo understands that everyone that comes to DLAW is a victim; from individuals injured in serious automobile accidents or tractor trailer cases, catastrophic personal injuries to groups of people harmed by medical devices, dangerous and defective pharmaceutical products, chemical exposure cases, brain injury and wrongful death lawsuits, workers’ compensation claims, Mass Tort litigation, and more. Mr. DeMayo and DLAW has been recognized for their work in the Carolinas and across the Nation. Our unique team of dedicated attorneys, paralegals, and medical professionals have been consistently recognized as the leaders in Personal Injury and Consumer Law. Over the years, the DLAW team has grown to over 130 legal professionals. Our experienced team has helped over 132,000 individual clients and their families from across the United States recover over One Billion Dollars ($1,000,000,000.00) in total verdicts and settlements for their cases.
Our main office is located in Charlotte, North Carolina but we have additional locations in Hickory and Monroe, NC and Columbia, South Carolina. We plan to open expansion offices in Eastern North Carolina in the near future. Additionally, DLAW and DeMayo Law Group, PLLC maintains established co-counsel and collaborative relationships with over 50 national and regional law firms across the country allowing us to assist individuals with their Mass Torts, Personal Injury, Wrong Death, and Camp Lejeune Cases in almost every jurisdiction in the Nation.
Mr. DeMayo is rated AV Preeminent (5.0 of 5.0), the highest professional rating achievable from Martindale-Hubbell, a national organization that rates attorneys and law firms. According to Martindale-Hubbell, “an AV peer review rating is a significant accomplishment – a testament to the fact that a lawyer’s peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence.” In addition, the firm has consistently and annually been named and awarded the Client Champion Gold Distinction (previously the Client Distinction Award) by Martindale- Hubble which places the DeMayo Law Offices in the top 5% of firms recognized as “an elite group of attorneys who have received exceptional reviews from the people who know them best, their clients.”
Memberships
Mr. DeMayo’s associations and early interests set the standard for his life’s mission of being a passionate advocate for the disenfranchised or those with limited access to exceptional legal representation.
Founding member of the Mecklenburg Trial Lawyers Association
NCAJ Presidents Club
NCAJ Leaders Forum
AAJ member
Leaders Forum Patron
NCAJ Presidents Club
AAJ, Eagles PAC
Chairman of AAJ Marketing Committee.
“Top 100 Trial Lawyers” by the AATL for 9 consecutive years
Martindale-Hubble rated 5.0 for the last 15 years
Mr. DeMayo and DLAW are consistently selected as top 5% Law Firms for customer satisfaction and Service since 2014
Million Dollar Advocates Forum
Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum
Mr. DeMayo was one of the youngest attorneys in North Carolina to obtain a settlement or verdict in excess of One Million Dollars under 35 years of age (Catawba County, 1998) only a few years after opening DLAW
Other memberships include: American Association for Justice (Presidents Club, Founding Chairman of the ATLA Marketing Committee); North Carolina Association of Justice (Presidents Club, Leaders Forum); The National Trial Lawyers Association (Top 100 Trial Lawyers); Phi Alpha Delta; The Order of the Barristers; American Bar Association; Mecklenburg County Bar; North Carolina Bar Association; North Carolina State Bar; Supreme Court of the United States; North Carolina Brain Injury Association; Brain Injury Association of America; the Master Marketing Group and the M&L Legal Marketing Group.
Education
Mr. DeMayo is a graduate of Wake Forest University, cum laude (1987) and the University of North Carolina School of Law-Chapel Hill (1990). He’s a been a member of the Wake Forest University Alumni Council and Wake Forest University Executive Board. He’s a current member of the UNC- Chapel Hill School of Law 1834 Society. He’s a past member of the Board of Directors for UNC-School of Law (Chapel Hill) and a current select member of the Dean’s Committee on Trial Advocacy at UNC-Law School. He currently serves on the Davidson Parents Council, Cornell Parents Board, and the USC Marshall School of Business Parents Council.
Admissions
North Carolina
Western District of North Carolina
Middle District of North Carolina
Eastern District of North Carolina
United States Supreme Court
Awards
Mr. DeMayo and the trial lawyers at his firm hold numerous awards, memberships, qualifications, and certifications. Mr. DeMayo and all the of the North Carolina lawyers at DLAW are licensed in the Eastern Federal District Court. A variety of DLAW attorneys are:
Super Lawyers
ABOTA Certified Lawyers
Workers’ Compensation Specialization Certified lawyers
North Carolina Brain Injury Association
Brain Injury Association of America
Million Dollar Advocates
Multi-Million Dollar Advocates
While the attorneys at DLAW have many other accomplishments, Mr. DeMayo takes the most pride and satisfaction in knowing that his entire law firm is client focused and works hard to obtain the best results along with providing each and every client exceptional customer service.
Mass Torts
Mr. DeMayo and the DLAW Mass Torts team have participated and been involved in some of the largest national Mass Torts cases in the country. We are currently working on the Camp Lejeune toxic water contamination cases that are going to be litigated in the Eastern District of North Carolina. *** DLAW Group litigation in conjunction with our strategic partners represent over 30,000 individual Marines and family members who were injured or killed by their exposure to this contaminated water supply. In addition to these Mass Tort cases we have active cases and representation of Talc, 3M, Paraquat, Roundup, Hernia Mesh, Boy Scout Abuse Cases, and more (visit DeMayoLaw.com for a full list of MT cases).
A DLAW lawyer has just been appointed as a member of the Plaintiffs Steering Committee for Chemical Hair Straightening products. We resolved and were active participants and represented many clients as co-counsel in the 10 Billion Dollar Roundup Mass Tort Settlement Litigation against Bayer-Monsanto. We continue to accept Roundup cases. This practice area continues to be a very large, significant part of our law practice.
** Mr. DeMayo and the DLAW Group have scaled for the largest and most important North Carolina litigation in our lifetime, the Camp Lejeune Toxic Water Contamination cases. DLAW Group is uniquely positioned to handle this inventory of individual cases because of our experience and location plus we are licensed and live in North Carolina. Mr. DeMayo has assembled the infrastructure, personnel, and the right staff and lawyers for each stage of this individual litigation. He has taken painstaking efforts to ensure that every detail and step of the process has been mapped out and maximizes recovery for all individual claimants.
Accomplishments
Mr. DeMayo is rated AV Preeminent (5.0 of 5.0).
DLAW has consistently and annually been named and awarded the Client Champion Gold Distinction (previously the Client Distinction Award) by Martindale- Hubble which places the DeMayo Law Offices in the top 5% of firms recognized as “an elite group of attorneys who have received exceptional reviews from the people who know them best, their clients.”
Mr. DeMayo has been named as a top 100 Trial Lawyer for the past 12 consecutive years by the National Trial Lawyers.
In addition to his many legal accomplishments, in 2003, the Charlotte Business Journal named Mr. DeMayo as one of the “Top 40 Under 40 Businessmen” in the Charlotte Metropolitan region.
Mr. DeMayo is the co-author of “Carolina Injury Law: A Reference for Accident Victims,” a book written to provide general information and references about personal injury claims for individuals who have been injured in an accident.
Mr. DeMayo has been a frequent speaker and presenter at: AAJ, NCAJ, Trial Lawyers Summit, M&L, and MMG Seminars for attorneys.
Mr. DeMayo has served on the Wake Forest University Alumni Council.
Mr. DeMayo is a member of the 1834 Society.
Mr. DeMayo has also served as a Committee Chairman of the Development Committee and on the Board of Directors for the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) School of Law.
Mr. DeMayo is a member of the William Battle Horn Society, Van Hecke-Wettach Society and the 1845 Society.
Mr. DeMayo has been an active and generous supporter of Providence Day School (PDS), including Membership in the 1970 Society (Innovators Circle) and the Cornerstone Society (Leadership).
Mr. DeMayo donated to PDS over One Million Dollars ($1,000,000.00) and was honored by the naming of an academic building: The DeMayo Gateway Center.
Community Service
In addition to his many accomplishments and honors, Mr. DeMayo has also earned recognition and accolades throughout the region for his commitment to community service programs including his signature programs to combat underage drinking and driving, feeding the poor, and numerous other charities and organizations. Mr. DeMayo has seen countless injuries and deaths due to drinking and driving collisions and is committed to trying to make the community a safer place.
In 2003, as a direct result of his personal experience(s), Mr. DeMayo developed and initiated his own program, “Arrive Alive®,” an outreach program to educate teenagers about the dangers and consequences of underage drinking and driving. The firm has delivered its “Arrive Alive®! Don’t Drink and Drive” message to thousands of teens in the local areas the law firm serves for a number of years.
In conjunction with this initiative, the firm has also awarded over $7000,000.00 (Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars) in college scholarships to graduating high school seniors through the Michael A. DeMayo Arrive Alive Scholarship for the last consecutive 20 years. Every year the firm awards fifteen $2,500 scholarships to students who created presentations or write essays on how to prevent underage drinking and driving. Through this scholarship program, DLAW and Mr. DeMayo aim to try to prevent accidents caused by underage drinking and driving by encouraging teenagers to make smart decisions.
Personal Life
Mr. DeMayo loves being a plaintiffs’ personal injury attorney. He can’t imagine doing anything else and dreams of building a legacy firm that will thrive for generations in the future. Mr. DeMayo is a single parent to four very different young adults, and he enjoys the challenge of his family, which he describes as an “ever-changing dynamic of activity and personal interaction.” He believes that his personal life is a great training tool for his legal career and credits his resilience and perseverance to living with those “humans.” His daily experiences with the “savages” requires creativity, adaptability, and an openness to problem solving with new and unique situations.
“It’s on the job training for all the different types of people and situations that I encounter being a Personal Injury Lawyer and Entrepreneur. I want to believe that it positively influences my perspective, demeanor and makes me a more patient and sympathetic advocate. Moreover, I believe my active lifestyle and people centric life makes me more sensitive. I think this allows me to directly relate to my clients’ needs, expectations and objectives on a more personal level.”
