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.
The October 16, 2024, Court of Appeals opinion in SCDSS v.Caldwell, held that a juvenile cannot be ordered into confinement for an evaluation
Pet peeve: attorneys who value their time more than your time
A pet peeve of mine, for which I am getting increasingly peevish, is attorneys who set office procedures that value their time more
On September 25, 2024, the South Carolina Supreme Court issued a revised order on “Duties of Family Court Chief Judges for Administrative Purposes.”
