Legal Practice Hall of Fame Award: John L. Pinnix
Jack Pinnix, a Reidsville, N.C. native, attained bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and earned his Juris Doctor at Wake Forest University. After working for a general practice firm in Eden and serving as Special Counsel for the Mentally Ill and Inebriate at Broughton Hospital in Morganton, Jack and his lifelong friend Noel Allen, established the Raleigh based law firm Allen & Pinnix, P.A.
In 1979 Jack transitioned his general practice to the fledgling area of immigration and nationality law. He was among the first attorneys in North Carolina to limit a practice to the immigration field. He is one of seven founding organizers of the Carolinas Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and served twice as Chapter Chair.
A Board Certified Immigration Specialist, Jack was in the State Bar’s Immigration Law Specialty Committee inaugural class. During his career he has represented thousands of clients in virtually every area of immigration law and is a nationally recognized authority on immigration law and policy.
Jack served as AILA national President; the first president installed after 9/11. His watch coincided with the abolition of the INS and the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security which included three new immigration agencies, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection. Since his presidency, he has continued to play major leadership roles in AILA and has served on AILA’s national Board of Governors for over thirty years.
Jack is a member of the Founding Board and a Trustee Emeritus of the American Immigration Law Foundation (now the American Immigration Council).
Jack has published scores of articles on immigration and is a frequent lecturer for law schools, continuing legal education programs, and professional, civic and ethnic organizations. He served as an Adjunct Professor at North Carolina Central University School of Law and Elon University School of Law and as a Senior Lecturing Fellow at Duke University School of Law.
Over decades Allen & Pinnix has undergone innumerable transformations, while continuing to proudly host the oldest continuing immigration practice in North Carolina.