I am a sole practitioner with my practice in downtown Charleston, South Carolina.
I opened my law practice in November 1993 with the goal of providing individuals with zealous, thoughtful and reasonably priced legal services. I represent individuals all over the Lowcountry but primarily in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties. Over the years, my practice's emphasis has increasingly focused on family law—especially divorce, alimony, property division, child custody and child support—though I also handle personal injury, criminal law and appeals. I practice family law because I believe it is important to help parents develop and maintain relationships with their children and to help spouses preserve their lifestyle when their marriage is no longer working. I have an AV rating from Martindale Hubbell and am listed as a SuperLawyer.
Over the years, my practice's emphasis has increasingly focused on family law—especially divorce, alimony, property division, child custody, and child support—and appeals of family law cases. While I hope to resolve most of my client's issue by agreement, I have decades of experience actually trying family law cases. I practice family law because I believe it is important to help parents develop and maintain relationships with their children and to help spouses preserve their lifestyle when their marriage is no longer working.
Among experienced family law attorneys I am unusual in practicing without a paralegal or associate. This means my clients always deal directly with me. Every family law situation is unique. Having one and only one legal professional focusing on the matter means that I am learning directly from my client and others involved in the case. For more complex matters I sometimes employ (with my client's permission) a colleague to assist and divide responsibilities.
Being one of the few South Carolina family law attorneys to do significant trial and appellate work provides me an unusual perspective on handling cases at the family court level. Because of my extensive experience in appeals, I begin each case considering what evidence I might need to sustain a successful or overcome a disappointing trial result on appeal. This focus informs strategy and evidence gathering at every step of the litigation process, including the vast majority of cases that settle before trial.
Don’t forget the “why” questions
I’ve recently been preparing for a number of custody trials while also working on a number of appeals I’ve inherited from trial counsel.
Do you prefer pop quizzes or open book exams?
A sizable minority of my clients still prefer the telephone over email to get their questions answered. I certainly understand the desire of
In contested custody litigation, there’s no downside to kindness
One of the quickest, easiest, and most effective “fixes” I can counsel my clients to do in contested custody litigation is to be
