Trial and Appellate Advocacy Section:
Evidence Advocacy
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES by order of presentation
Amie Clifford
S.C. Commission on Prosecution Coordination Columbia, SC
(Course Planner)
Amie L. Clifford serves as General Counsel and Director of Education Services for the South Carolina Commission on Prosecution Coordination.
Prior to joining the Commission in November 2007, she was employed by the National District Attorneys Association as the Director of the National Center for Prosecution Ethics and as an Assistant Director of Programs for the National College of District Attorneys. She has previously served as a Supreme Court Fellow at the U.S. Sentencing Commission (1999 – 2000), Assistant Solicitor in the Charleston County Solicitor’s Office (1991 – 1999), Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Appeals Section of the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office (1984 – 1991), and Staff Attorney with Piedmont Legal Services, Inc. (1983 – 1984). As a volunteer, Ms. Clifford has represented the State in criminal appeals as a Special Assistant Attorney General (2006-2010; 2013 – 2018).
Ms. Clifford received her Bachelor of Arts degree (French) from Northwestern State University of Louisiana and her law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in May 1982 (at the age of 22). She was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in November of that same year.
She has been involved in organized Bar activities at both the state and national level. In addition to her current service as Chair of the South Carolina Bar Trial and Appellate Advocacy Section (for which she previously served as Chair in 2003-2004), her service in South Carolina Bar activities has included: Criminal Law Section (Chair: 1991-1992), CLE Committee Chair (Chair:
1995 – 1997), House of Delegates (1992 – 1999; 2002 – 2007; 2008 – Present), Board of Governors (1993 – 1994; 2004 – 2007), and Young Lawyers Division (President: 1992 – 1993).
Since 1985, she has also participated in CLE trainings conducted by the South Carolina Bar, the American Bar Association, and other organizations. Ms. Clifford has served as a contributing author for publications of the South Carolina Bar (South Carolina Jurisprudence and South Carolina Criminal Trial Techniques Handbook), the American Bar Association (The Fourth Amendment Handbook: A Chronological Survey of Supreme Court Decisions (2nd ed.) (published in October 2002 by the ABA, for which she also served as co-editor), and the National District Attorneys Association (Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Guide to Ethics and Civil Liability (2nd ed. 2007 National District Attorneys Association) (also served as editor) and Managing Prosecutors (2007 National District Attorneys Association)).
Honorable John Cannon Few
Supreme Court of SC Sumter, SC
Justice John Cannon Few was born in Anderson, South Carolina. He grew up in Greenwood and graduated from Greenwood High School in 1981. He attended college at Duke University, where he served as Duke's athletic mascot - the Blue Devil - during his junior year. John graduated from Duke in 1985 with an A.B. degree in English and Economics.
John went on to attend the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he was a member of The Order of Wig and Robe and The Order of the Coif. He also served as Student Works Editor of the South Carolina Law Review. He received his Juris Doctor degree in 1988.
John began his legal career as law clerk to The Honorable G. Ross Anderson, Jr., United States District Judge. He practiced law in Greenville from 1989 until 2000, and is admitted to practice in South Carolina, the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. John served as a trial judge on the Circuit Court of South Carolina from July 2000 until February 2010.
He then became the Chief Judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals, a position he held until February 2016. John was sworn in as a Justice on the Supreme Court of South Carolina on February 9, 2016.
John is a frequent public speaker. In 1996, he gave a speech entitled "Citizen Participation in the Legal System," for which he was awarded first place in the American Bar Association's nationwide Edward R. Finch Law Day speech contest. Since then he has given numerous speeches to bar associations and civic groups throughout the country. In December 2012, he delivered the commencement speech, entitled "What it Means to be a Lawyer," to the graduates of the Charleston School of Law. In April 2016, he delivered the commencement speech to Lander University. His most frequent speech is entitled "The Courage of a Lawyer," which he has delivered to lawyers' groups in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Arizona, and California. John wrote an article based on the speech that appeared under the same name in the Winter 2013 edition of the ABA's "Litigation" journal.
John has also been active in teaching law. He served on the faculty at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada, from 2005 to 2009. He was an Adjunct Professor of Law and later a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Charleston School of Law from 2008 to 2012. John is now an Adjunct Professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law. He has also given or moderated over one hundred and twenty-five continuing legal education seminars in South Carolina and numerous other states.
John is a Fellow in Liberty Fellowship, and as a part of Liberty Fellowship is a member of the moderator corps at The Aspen Institute. John completed the Diversity Leaders Initiative through The Riley Institute at Furman University in 2010. In December 2012, the Charleston School of Law awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
John has always been active in community service, even outside of his primary employment in public service. Before becoming a judge, for example, he read to pre-school children on a weekly basis for years in the Greenville Head Start program, tutored middle-school children through Save our Sons, taught middle and high school classes as part of the Junior Achievement program, and
served on the board of Friends of the Reedy River. While he was a circuit judge, John served on the 2003-04 Governor's Water Law Review Committee. John now chairs the South Carolina Access to Justice Commission.
John is married to Stephanie Leonard Few, a partner in the law firm Womble Bond Dickinson, practicing in the field of economic development. They live on Daniel Island in the City of Charleston, Berkeley County. Together, they have six children. John's daughter Reed is a 2012 graduate of Duke University with a B.S. in Economics. Reed works for Concerto HealthAI, a platform technology company focused on applications of artificial intelligence to oncology. She lives in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. John's daughter Anna is a 2016 graduate of Clemson University Calhoun Honors College with a B.S. in Nursing. Anna lives in Denver where she works as a registered nurse at Rose Medical Center. His son Cannon is a senior at Boston College majoring in English. Cannon is also a recording artist performing under the name
"Cannon." John is the son of J. Kendall Few of Greenville, and Belva Beasley Few of Greenwood.
William M. Blitch, Sr.
SC Attorney General’s Office Columbia, SC
William is currently a Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General with the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office and the supervisor of the Office’s Criminal Appeals Section. After graduating from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1998, he began his career in private practice handling real estate and similar matters. After coming to his senses, he left private practice and joined the South Carolina Court of Appeals as a staff attorney. In May 1999, he began clerking for the Honorable Ralph King Anderson, Jr. of the Court of Appeals. When his clerkship ended, he became a staff attorney with the South Carolina Supreme Court in 2000. After two years with the Supreme Court, he returned to the Court of Appeals and became the Deputy Chief Staff Attorney, and later served as the Interim Chief Staff Attorney. Mr. Blitch joined the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office in 2007, where he has handled criminal appeals before both the South Carolina Court of Appeals and the South Carolina Supreme Court and worked with the South Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. He has participated in over 150 oral arguments at the two appellate courts and written countless briefs. Mr. Blitch has spoken at numerous trainings throughout South Carolina on appellate issues, digital evidence, Fourth Amendment, prosecution of sexual abuse, child abuse, and issues related to ICAC, including at the South Carolina Summary Court Judge’s Conference, the South Carolina Solicitor’s Conference, and numerous CLE trainings throughout the state.
Meliah Bowers Jefferson
Wyche, PA Greenville, SC
Meliah Bowers Jefferson is an experienced litigator and certified mediator with a practice focused on commercial litigation, intellectual property, data privacy, and media law. She advises clients at all stages of litigation, from risk mitigation through appeal in state and federal court. She also assists clients in a broad range of general corporate matters, including governance and corporate social responsibility. Prior to entering private practice, she served as law clerk to The Honorable Jean H. Toal, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Carolina. She also clerked for The Honorable J. Michelle Childs, United States District Judge. Meliah is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business, where she majored in marketing and finance. She earned her law degree from the University of South Carolina School
of Law, where she served on the Editorial Board of the ABA Real Property, Probate, and Trust Journal and as President of the Black Law Students Association. Meliah has been recognized by Super Lawyers Magazine, acknowledged with the National Bar Association’s 40 under 40 Best Advocates Award, and included in Best Lawyers in America.
Mark Reynolds Farthing
SC Attorney General’s Office Columbia, SC
Mark was born in Statesville, North Carolina, moved to Greer, South Carolina, when he was in elementary school, and has remained in South Carolina ever since. Mark attended Wofford College for his undergraduate degree and the Charleston School of Law for his law degree.
Following law school, Mark clerked for the Honorable Ralph King Anderson, Jr. at the South Carolina Court of Appeals, and he continued to clerk for Judge Anderson when the judge returned to the circuit court bench as a retired active judge. Mark then began working as an Assistant Attorney General in the criminal appeals division of the South Carolina Office of the Attorney General, where he continues to work today as a Senior Assistant Attorney General. He has been admitted to practice in all South Carolina state courts, the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. To date, Mark has argued over forty times in the South Carolina Supreme Court and over eighty times in the South Carolina Court of Appeals. Additionally, Mark has served as a member of the Chief Justice’s Committee to Review South Carolina Appellate Court Rules and of the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office’s Appellate Review Committee, and he was the recipient of 2020 Trial and Appellate Advocacy Award from the South Carolina Bar Trial and Appellate Advocacy Council.
Matthew T. Douglas
John Price Law Firm, LLC Charleston, SC
Matthew T. Douglas is an experienced trial attorney who has successfully resolved hundreds of personal injury claims on behalf of injured clients. He focuses his practice on personal injury, medical malpractice, premises liability, wrongful death, insurance bad faith, commercial trucking cases, products liability, Title IX, 1983 actions, construction and road defects, and professional malpractice. Mr. Douglas has obtained favorable jury verdicts and judgments in dozens of Circuit Court cases. He also has experience litigating complex products liability and commercial trucking cases in federal court. Recently, he litigated a case which resulted in a jury verdict of more than three times the insurance carrier’s last offer for the plaintiff in the Dorchester County Court of Common Pleas. In that case, the plaintiff was injured in a car wreck and the defense argued lack of property damage, gaps in treatment, and pre-existing condition.
Prior to joining John Price Law Firm, LLC, Mr. Douglas had over a decade of experience as a trial lawyer. During that time he represented both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of civil matters. He has represented industry clients in pursuing hundreds of subrogation claims arising from motor vehicle collisions and products liability claims. Mr. Douglas formerly served as coverage counsel for an international commercial carrier and provided advisory opinions regarding: liability and first-party coverage; reserve estimates following high exposure events;
analysis and application of commercial liability policies; and tenders of defense. He has also represented industry clients in complex civil litigation including: medical malpractice actions;
wrongful death; commercial trucking; bad faith; and premises liability actions. He has also been admitted pro hoc in the State of California to serve as lead counsel in an international products liability wrongful death action.
When not representing clients, Mr. Douglas loves spending time with his wife and two young sons in Summerville, South Carolina.
Bar Admissions/Memberships:
South Carolina, 2008 – present US District Court, 2008 – present
• South Carolina Association of Justice (SCAJ)
• American Bar Association (ABA)
• SC Bar YLD, Professional Development Committee
• Charleston Bar Association: Dorchester County Bar Association
• Attorney Coach: Mock Trial Competition
• Scoring Judge: South Carolina Mock Trial Competition Education:
University of South Carolina School of Law, Juris Doctorate, 2007 Honors: Cum Laude; Order of the Wig & Robe
CALI Award: Property; Administrative Law; Criminal Procedure ABA Real Property & Trust Journal Law Review Member Research Assistant – Professor Eagle – Environmental Law College of Charleston, Charleston, SC
Bachelor of Arts, 2003
Clarence Davis
Griffin Davis Columbia, SC
Clarence Davis focuses his practice on complex business/commercial litigation and trials (defense and plaintiff), products liability, toxic tort and environmental cases, and class-actions, as well as white collar criminal defense (state and federal).
Clarence is rated AV Preeminent for the highest level of professional excellence by
Martindale Hubbell. He has been recognized since 2011 by Best Lawyers in America
in the areas of Commercial Litigation and Personal Injury Litigation. He has been
selected by Super Lawyers as Top Rated Business Litigation Attorney in Columbia,
SC, in 2009, 2012-2013 and 2017.
Clarence has experience serving as lead counsel in complex business trials and other complex litigation for national companies throughout the Southeast and elsewhere in the United States. Clarence has been admitted pro hac vice in state and federal courts in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.
He has extensive experience in private practice with large, multi-state and international law firms. He has been a partner with Nelson Mullins Riley and Scarborough, and a shareholder with Greenberg Traurig.
From 1989 to 1991, he served as assistant U.S. Attorney, where he was responsible for the jury trial of securities, tax and federal procurement fraud cases, as well as environmental crime work for South Carolina. There, he was trained by the U.S.
Department of Justice to work with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He has administrative, civil, criminal litigation and jury trial experience with complex business crimes.
Clarence has served as a delegate for South Carolina on a southeastern trade mission to Japan and Korea. He has also been awarded the highest public service award issued in the state of South Carolina, the Order of the Palmetto.
In the 1980s, he was a captain in the U.S. Air Force. In that role he was one of the 20 Circuit Trial Counsel stationed throughout the world and was responsible for the jury trial prosecution of serious felonies at air bases in eight western states.
Susan Barber Hackett
SC Commission on Indigent Defense Columbia, SC
Susan Barber Hackett is an Appellate Defender with the Office of Appellate Defense. She represents individuals in their appeals following criminal convictions and in post-conviction relief matters. In 2020, she won the Gold Compleat Award from the University of South Carolina School of Law. In 2018, she won the Martha Browning Dicus Award from the Public Defender Association for demonstrating remarkable competence, zeal, and adherence to the ideals of the legal profession. Previously, Ms. Hackett worked at the Office of Disciplinary Counsel where she investigated and prosecuted lawyers for violations of the Rules of Professional Responsibility. She also served as the Executive Director of the Center of Capital Litigation, a non-profit dedicated to the representation of individuals charged with capital crimes. While an associate at Blume, Weyble
& Norris, LLC, she represented criminal defendants in state and federal courts. Upon graduating from law school, Ms. Hackett served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Deadra L. Jefferson in the Ninth Circuit. Ms. Hackett also taught legal writing at the University of South Carolina School of Law.as an adjunct professor for two years.
She graduated from the University of South Carolina School ofLaw in 2003, and graduated from Winthrop University in 2000. Ms. Hackett serves as a member of the Supreme Court's Committee
on Character and Fitness and the University of South Carolina School of Law's Pro Bono Program Advisory Council. Ms. Hackett is a regular presenter at Public Defense 101: Fundamentals of the Profession, an annual seminar sponsored by the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense.
Ms. Hackett is an active member of the South Carolina Bar, serving on the Professional Responsibility Committee, the Law Related Education Committee, the Practice and Procedure Committee, and the Trial and Appellate Advocacy Section.
Frank L. Eppes
Eppes & Plumblee, PA Greenville, SC
Frank Eppes was born in Greenville, SC on November 10, 1960. He is a third-generation lawyer, following his grandfather, a gentleman farmer and trial attorney, and his late father, a much beloved state Circuit Court Judge and a 1986 Democratic candidate for Governor. At 6-feet 10- inches tall, Frank is hard to miss in a crowd and had the highest career field-goal percentage in the history of the Washington & Lee University Basketball Team. While he doesn’t run the floor the way he used to, he still makes more shots than he misses, at least to hear him tell it. He also possesses an extensive array of collectibles purchased from some of the finest flea markets and yard sales in the area.
Alice F. Paylor
Rosen Hagood, LLC Charleston, SC
In May 2013, Alice Paylor became the fourth female president of the South Carolina Bar and the third member of her firm to hold the position. In 2021, Alice was inducted as a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Alice’s practice focuses primarily on complex commercial and probate litigation, employment litigation, school law and zoning law. Her commercial litigation practice includes representation of all types of business entities in contract disputes, business torts, lender-borrower litigation, and more. She represented The Beach Company in a major planning and zoning appeal, in which she successfully challenged the City of Charleston’s Board of Architectural Review’s attempts to
“rezone” the Sergeant Jasper Site in Charleston to prevent its redevelopment.
In her employment law practice, Alice represents both employers and employees in various employment matters including FLSA, discrimination, non-compete, and wrongful termination.
Alice also has significant experience working with school districts, private schools and charter schools. She represented the Charleston County School District in a major school desegregation case that deemed the district a unitary school district.
Alice received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law. After graduation from law school, she served as Deputy Corporation Counsel for the City of Charleston, helping to navigate complex litigation in which the City was involved. She joined Rosen Hagood in 1982, and was made partner/shareholder five years later. She served as the firm’s managing shareholder from 2003 to 2008 and as a member of its Management Committee until 2021.
Justin S. Kahn
Kahn Law Firm, LLP Charleston, SC
Justin Kahn is a civil litigator with Kahn Law Firm, LLP in Charleston, South Carolina. He handles professional liability, tort, product liability, contract and other matters. He has practiced in state and federal courts throughout the country since 1992.
Justin is AV rated and is board certified in medical malpractice by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys where he also serves on the board. He is also board certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a civil trial advocate and in civil pretrial practice advocacy. He is also a diplomate with the National College of Advocacy and American Association of Justice. He is certified by the South Carolina Supreme Court as a civil circuit court mediator.
Justin is an adjunct professor of law at the Charleston School of Law where he teaches pretrial practice. He authors the South Carolina Rules Annotated and the South Carolina Rules of Evidence Annotated published by the South Carolina Bar CLE Division. He has written, lectured and taught throughout the country on a variety of topics including advocacy, procedure, evidence, ethics, technology and persuasion.
He is a member of various legal professional organizations including the American Association for Justice, American Bar Association, South Carolina Association for Justice and is a permanent member of the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference.
He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals, United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals, United States Court of Federal Claims, United States District Court for the District of South Carolina and the South Carolina Supreme Court.
He is married, is the proud parent of three children and loves to perform magic.
He received a B.S. from Tulane University in Psychology and B.S. in Communication in 1988. He received his J.D. degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1992.
Honorable Frank R. Addy, Jr.
S.C. Circuit Court Greenwood, SC
A life-long Greenwood native, Judge Frank R. Addy, Jr. was born in Greenwood, South Carolina in 1967 to the late F. Robert Addy, Sr., and Mary Katherine Addy, a retired English teacher. Judge Addy is married and they have two children.
Judge Addy attended the public schools of Greenwood County, and upon graduating from high school, he enrolled in the Honors College at the University of South Carolina. While in college, he was nominated for Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated from USC cum laude in 1990 with a degree in International Studies and a minor in business. While attending USC law school, he served as Articles Editor for the Student Editorial Board of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Journal, was president of the International Law Society, served on the International Moot Court Team, and was a member of the Palmetto Law Society. Judge Addy graduated from law school in 1993 and was admitted to the SC Bar on November 15, 1993.
Judge Addy began his legal career as Assistant Solicitor for the Eighth Circuit and was promoted to Deputy Solicitor in 1995. Upon the passing of his father in early 1997, Judge Addy entered the private practice of law while also assisting his grandparents in the family business. From 1998 to
1999, he served as Chief Public Defender for Greenwood and Abbeville Counties. He was appointed Greenwood County Probate Judge on June 3, 1999 and was subsequently reelected without opposition. From 2006 to 2007 he served periodically as Special Circuit Judge during the convalescence of the late Judge Wyatt Saunders. In 2008, Judge Addy assisted in establishing the Eighth Circuit Drug Court.
Judge Addy has been active in many civic, community, and professional organizations, including serving as a youth mentor for Greenwood District 50, coaching the Greenwood High and Ware Shoals High mock trial teams, and den leader for Cub Scout Pack 222. From 2005 to 2006 he served as President of the South Carolina Association of Probate Judges, chaired several committees of that organization, and chaired the Probate Judge’s Advisory Committee to the Chief Justice from 2001 to 2003. Judge Addy received the Executive of the Year award from the Emerald Chapter of IAAP in 2003. He currently serves as treasurer for the South Carolina Circuit Judges Association, he is the Judicial Branch liaison to the Department of Mental Health, and in 2021 he was appointed as the Circuit Court representative to the Access to Justice Commission.
Judge and Mrs. Addy are active members of St. Mark United Methodist Church. He is a member of Greenwood Masonic Lodge #91, Greenwood Cotillion, and the Rotary Club of Greenwood. In their spare time, the Addys enjoy travel and anything to do with boats, the water, or Gamecock Football.
Honorable R. Ferrell Cothran, Jr.
S.C. Circuit Court Manning, SC
Judge R. Ferrell Cothran, Jr. was born in Manning, South Carolina, in 1952, to the late Ralph F.
Cothran and Ruth Davidson Dubose Cothran.
He grew up in Manning and completed high school in 1970. He attended the University of South Carolina from 1970-1974 receiving his Bachelor of Arts Degree. He attended the University of South Carolina School of Law from 1974 – 1977 where he received his Juris Doctor Degree. After his completion of the Bar examination in 1977, he began working with his father in his practice of law, Cothran, Chandler & Cothran. In the early 80’s, it became the firm of Cothran & Cothran.
His practice consisted of Real Estate, Family, Civil and Criminal matters. He became County Attorney in 1979 and served as County Attorney until September of 2006. In 1983, he was appointed by Wade S. Kolb, Jr., Solicitor of the Third Circuit as the Assistant Solicitor for Clarendon County and was the prosecuting attorney until September of 2006.
He was elected on February 15, 2006 as Circuit Judge of the Third Judicial Circuit to fill the unexpired seat of Thomas W. Cooper, Jr. (retired) and began his term on October 1, 2006.
He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church at Manning where he serves as Sunday School Teacher and Elder. He has also served as Clerk of the Session.
He enjoys hunting, fishing, and cooking!
He married Deborah Jean Brakefield on April 12, 1985. He has two sons Scott Ferrell Cothran and Michael Bailey Cothran and one step-son Marion Epps Dubose, IV
Honorable Debra R. McCaslin
S.C. Circuit Court Lexington, SC
Judge McCaslin was elected on February 5th, 2020 as Circuit Court Judge At-Large, Seat 13, Lexington County Court House. Attended College of Charleston, BA 1990 and the University of South Carolina, JP 1993. Law Clerk to J. Preston Strom Jr. Attorney at Law, 1991-1993. Law Clerk to Attorney Leigh Leventis, 1993-1995. Private practice Debra Y. Chapman LLC 1995- 2020. Debbie McCaslin along with her husband Michael McCaslin are members of St. Thomas Lutheran church.
Honorable William A. McKinnon
S.C. Circuit Court York, SC
Judge William A. “Bill” McKinnon was born in Raleigh, North Carolina and is the son of Halbert H. and Gail T. McKinnon. His father is a dentist and a retired U.S.
Army Reserve colonel, and his mother is a retired teacher. He is married to the former Ellen Whitley, a native of Rock Hill, and has one stepdaughter, Bristol. His wife, Ellen, is a registered nurse.
He grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and attended local public schools.
Judge McKinnon graduated from Princeton University, in Princeton, NJ. After graduation, he taught middle school math and Latin. Judge McKinnon graduated magna cum laude from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2001, and was first in his law school class.
Following his graduation from law school, Judge McKinnon clerked for then Chief Judge Joseph F. Anderson, Jr., in the District of South Carolina. He then moved to the Fairbanks, Alaska area for one year to clerk for the Hon. Andrew J. Kleinfeld on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Judge McKinnon began his private practice of law with Covington & Burling in Washington, DC. He missed South Carolina, and came back in 2004 to join Lewis, Babcock & Hawkins in Columbia. At Lewis, Babcock, Judge McKinnon handled plaintiff’s cases and defended civil cases. He subsequently moved to Rock Hill in 2007 to join McGowan, Hood & Felder, where he spent the majority of his career handling medical malpractice and other plaintiff’s cases. He also occasionally represented other attorneys on ODC matters.
In 2015, Judge McKinnon began work as a part-time assistant solicitor in the
Sixteenth Circuit Solicitor’s Office while maintaining his private practice, and in
2016, went to work for the Solicitor’s Office full-time.
Judge McKinnon is admitted to the Bars of South Carolina and Washington, DC, as well as the District of South Carolina, various federal Courts of Appeal, and the U.S.
Supreme Court.
Judge McKinnon attends Westminster Presbyterian Church, where he was ordained as an elder. In his spare time, he enjoys reading (both fiction and non-fiction) and is a lifelong movie buff.
Honorable Maite Murphy
S.C. Circuit Court Dorchester, SC
Judge Murphy was born in 1969 in Denver, Colorado. She grew up in Canyon, Texas with her parents Mary Christine (Frederickson) and Ronald Charles Lessuck. Judge Murphy is a graduate of Texas State University and Mississippi College School of Law. She is married to Christopher J. Murphy who serves in the South Carolina House of Representatives and they have two sons, Christopher Austin and Jackson Frederick.
Upon graduating law school in 1995 she joined the Columbia practice of Holler, Dennis, Corbett
& Garner as a partner. In 1998, she joined the First Circuit Solicitors office and rose to the rank of Chief Deputy Solicitor. In 2005, Judge Murphy joined the practice of Quattlebaum and Murphy, L.L.P. as a partner and the practice subsequently became the Murphy Law Firm, L.L.C. She was appointed to serve as a Magistrate Court Judge in April of 2009 and served as Associate Chief and Chief Magistrate during her tenure. She was appointed to serve as Dorchester County Master-In- Equity in May of 2011 and was elected to serve on the Circuit Court bench on January 30, 2013.
Judge Murphy previously served as President, Vice President and Treasurer of the Dorchester County Bar Association and is member of the South Carolina Women's Bar Association. She is active in her community with having served on the YMCA Board of Directors, the Summerville Rotary Club, and Summerville Meals on Wheels Board of Directors. Judge Murphy is also active in her sons' sporting and extra curricular activities and is a member of St. Paul's Church in Summerville.
Honorable Jocelyn Newman
S.C. Circuit Court Columbia, SC
Judge Jocelyn Newman was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1977 to fellow Circuit Court Judge, the Honorable Clifton Newman and Patricia Blanton Newman.
She attended public school in Columbia, where she graduated from Spring Valley High School.
After beginning her college career at Duke University, she ultimately earned a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from the University of South Carolina.
Judge Newman attended law school at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she was a Merit Scholar. While in law school, she completed a judicial internship for the Honorable Reggie B. Walton of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Judge Newman received her Juris Doctor in 2004 and was admitted to the South Carolina Bar the same year. She
is also admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Judge Newman began her legal career as a judicial law clerk for now-retired Circuit Court Judge, the Honorable G. Thomas Cooper, Jr. She also served as an Assistant Solicitor for the Fifth Judicial Circuit before entering private practice with the law firm of Richardson Plowden &
Robinson, P.A. in Columbia. Judge Newman left Richardson Plowden in late 2015 and was subsequently elected to the Circuit Court bench on February 3, 2016.
Judge Newman has been very active in the legal community. She has served on the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Bar Foundation, as a Member of the Friends Advisory Board of the Ronald McDonald House, as an Associate Member of the South Carolina Board of Law Examiners, and as a member and treasurer for the John Belton O’Neall Inn of Court. She is a member of the Richland County Bar Association, S.C. Black Lawyers Association, S.C. Women Lawyers Association.
Judge Newman is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and American Mensa. She attends I. DeQuincey Newman United Methodist Church in Columbia.
Honorable Roger M. Young, Sr.
S.C. Circuit Court Charleston, SC
Roger M. Young, Sr. the son of the late Rev. James W. Young and Joyce L. Young. He grew up in North Charleston, and in 1980 graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the Baptist College at Charleston, which is now known as Charleston Southern University. He graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1983 with the degree of Juris Doctor, and with the degree of Master of Judicial Studies from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2000.
While in private practice, Judge Young also served as a Municipal Judge for the City of North Charleston from 1988-90. He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1990 and served two terms. He was Master-in-Equity for Charleston County from 1996 until July 1, 2003, when he became a Circuit Court Judge for the 9th Judicial Circuit of South Carolina. He has also served concurrently as a Business Court Judge for SC since it was created in 2007 and is Chief Administrative Judge of the South Carolina Business Court.
He was President of the South Carolina Circuit Court Judges Association from 2012-14.
