Cozen O’Connor members Peter F. Asmer, Jr. and F. Douglas Banks recently taught a legal course on forensic fire investigations for the American Academy of Applied Forensics (AAAF). Headquartered at Central Piedmont Community College near Charlotte, N.C., AAAF has one of the nation’s most extensive digital evidence programs and the courses in each area are designed and moderated by the nation’s leading forensic experts. The goal of the academy is to offer the most advanced applied forensics training available to law enforcement and medicolegal investigative professionals.
Resident in the Charlotte office, Asmer is a member of the firm and chair of the Subrogation & Recovery Department's Southeast regional offices. He also has trial and litigation experience in a range of cases, including bad faith, medical and other professional malpractice defense, products liability defense, commercial and construction disputes, and insurance coverage. He regularly lectures on fire related litigation and subrogation recovery issues for institutions such as the North and South Carolina chapters of the International Association of Arson Investigators, the North Carolina Insurance Crime Information Exchange, and the South Carolina Bar Association. He is often asked to teach certification courses on fire investigation for local and state police and firemen. He also conducts training seminars on subrogation and recovery for the firm's insurance clients.
Asmer is a graduate of Wofford College (B.A., magna cum laude, 1988), where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and the University of South Carolina School of Law (J.D., 1991), where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and the Order of the Wig and Robe. He is admitted to practice law in North and South Carolina state and federal courts.
A member of the subrogation and recovery group resident in the Charlotte office, Banks concentrates his practice in construction liability, products liability and commercial litigation. He received his designation as a Certified Subrogation Recovery Professional (CSRP) from NASP in 2004. He is currently the co-editor of Subrogator magazine and has been a presenter at the NASP Conference. He is admitted to the Bars of North and South Carolina.
Banks is a graduate of Appalachian State University (B.S. and B.A., 1982) and Wake Forest University Law School (J.D., 1993), where he was president of the Student Bar Association, a member of law review, a member of the National Moot Court Team, and a participant in the Zeliff Trial Bar and Prince National Evidence Competitions.