Primary Contact
DeAndrea Gist Benjamin
Attorney DeAndrea Gist Benjamin is a Partner with The Gist Law Firm in Columbia, SC. Her practice areas include Family Law, Criminal Law, Employment Law, Personal Injury and Workers’ Compensation Law. Before joining her father’s firm in July of 2001, Attorney Benjamin was employed as a prosecutor for the SC Attorney General’s office responsible for handling domestic violence, sexual assault, harassment and other cases involving violent acts against women. Attorney Benjamin also prosecuted elder abuse cases and assisted with civil commitments involving sexually violent predators.
Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, Attorney Benjamin was employed as an Assistant Solicitor in the Fifth Circuit Solicitor’s Office in Columbia, South Carolina.
Attorney Benjamin received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Winthrop University, in Rock Hill, S.C., in May of 1994. She received her Jurist Doctorate Degree in May of 1997 from the University of South Carolina School of Law in Columbia, SC. Immediately after law school she clerked for the Honorable L. Casey Manning as a Judicial Law Clerk.
Attorney Benjamin is an active member of the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, Chair (2006-2007), South Carolina Bar Young Lawyers Division, Columbia Lawyers Association, South Carolina Black Lawyer’s Association, and the Richland County Bar Association. She serves on the Board of Edventure Children’s Museum, the Board of Appleseed Legal Justice Center and the board of the Congaree Girl Scouts. She is a member of the Columbia Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and St. John Baptist Church.
Attorney Benjamin also has served on the board of Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands and in July of 2001, Governor Jim Hodges appointed Attorney Benjamin to the South Carolina Juvenile Parole Board.
In July of 2004, Attorney Benjamin was appointed as a Municipal Judge for the City of Columbia where she continues to serve.
Attorney Benjamin is married to Stephen K. Benjamin and they have two children.
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