South Carolina

S.C. Supreme Court Weighs 1802 Gaming Law’s Application to 2006 Poker Bust

A lawyer for South Carolina told the state supreme court this week that an old 1802 state gaming law doesn’t bar Friday night poker games and penny ante games of bridge. But senior assistant attorney general Sonny Jones argued that the law does apply to five men busted for playing…

Oct 21, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Nelson Mullins to Merge with 19-Lawyer IP Firm

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough is merging with a 19-lawyer intellectual property firm in Boston. The firm’s merger with Lahive & Cockfield takes place on Nov. 1, according to the State and a Nelson Mullins press release. The move will double the size of Nelson Mullins’ Boston office and will…

Oct 7, 2010 4:06 PM CDT

Law Firm’s Website Warns Clients: We Aren’t Perfect and We Don’t Work Weekends

High-maintenance divorce clients may not want to hire the Pincus Family Law firm in Columbia, S.C. The law firm takes work-life balance seriously, and it expects its clients to behave. The firm sets out the boundaries on its website under the heading “Client Expectations (Realistic or Unrealistic).” Pincus Family Law…

Oct 7, 2010 3:27 PM CDT

Sex with Client’s Spouse Is a Per Se Legal Ethics Violation, Top SC Court Says

An anonymous member of the South Carolina bar had an unblemished disciplinary record in 37 years of practice. But he has now been admonished after admittedly having a brief affair with a client’s wife. A hearing panel of the state Commission of Lawyer Conduct dismissed an allegation that this conduct…

Sep 14, 2010 4:43 PM CDT

Girlfriend Charged in Lawyer’s Murder Is Now Accused of Defrauding Him, Too

Charged in May in the murder of her longtime boyfriend, South Carolina attorney and former York mayor Melvin Roberts, defendant Julia Phillips is now also facing a criminal breach-of-trust case concerning her dealings with him. Roberts, 79, was found strangled to death in February outside the York home he and…

Aug 18, 2010 4:55 PM CDT

Lawyer Pleads Guilty in Plot to Murder Colleague After Secretary’s Suspected Theft

A South Carolina lawyer was sentenced Monday to three years in prison for trying to solicit the murder of a former colleague. Conway lawyer Irby Walker pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit a felony and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, suspended to three years in prison and five…

Aug 17, 2010 12:08 PM CDT

Plaintiffs Firms Form Alliance Offering Free Help to BP Compensation Fund Claimants

A group of plaintiffs law firms in the southeast have formed an Oil Spill Legal Alliance that is offering to help victims of the BP spill file claims without charge. Alliance members will be available, however, to represent oil spill victims who opt to litigate on a contingency basis or…

Aug 2, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Supreme Court Rejects Death Penalty Appeal Over Juror’s 76 Phone Calls

A federal judge was so aggravated by the 76 phone calls made by the jury forewoman in a death penalty case that he held her in contempt and ordered her to forfeit $2,500 in court pay and perform 120 hours of community service. And, if Cynthia Wilson hadn’t had four…

Jun 1, 2010 4:02 PM CDT

Disbarred Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Assuming ID of Different Attorney

A disbarred lawyer living in Florida pleaded guilty Tuesday to identity theft for assuming the identity of a retired New York lawyer. John Mark Marino, 70, was named R. Mark Hunter when he lost his law license in Pennsylvania, according to stories in Carolina Live and GoUpstate.com. Hunter changed his…

May 27, 2010 3:46 PM CDT

Lawyer Accused of Courtroom Seat-Belt Stunt Cites Age, Avoids Sanctions

A South Carolina lawyer accused of secretly staging a courtroom stunt to demonstrate an alleged design flaw in a Kia seat belt won’t be sanctioned for his actions. Lawyer J. Kendall Few avoided penalty after arguing that a long day and his advanced age may have led him to forget…

Mar 25, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

16-Year Judge Loses Seat on Bench Over Husband’s Peripheral Role in 1 Divorce Case

In a decision decried by some observers as supporting a political regime that threatens judicial independence, the top court in South Carolina has upheld a legislative screening panel’s determination booting a seasoned judge from the bench. It found a 16-year family court veteran unqualified to continue to serve as a…

Mar 24, 2010 5:57 PM CDT

Litigant’s Situation Goes from Bad to Worse as E-Mail to Judge Results in New Conviction

Apparently angry over what he perceived as a federal judge’s delay in ruling on his civil suit over an alleged unlawful arrest and incarceration, a Virginia man sent the South Carolina jurist a number of e-mails expressing his negative view of the situation. Now Stephen Rosenberg is awaiting sentencing in…

Mar 22, 2010 6:10 PM CDT

2nd S.C. Lawyer Is Killed in 2 Days; Was His Slaying Also Case-Related?

Within a day after a 61-year-old Pickens, S.C., lawyer was shot and killed outside his office Wednesday, apparently in connection with a divorce matter, another South Carolina lawyer was killed at his York home last night. Authorities haven’t stated how Melvin Roberts, who was nearly 80, died. Police are investigating…

Feb 5, 2010 11:47 PM CST

South Carolina Lawyer Is Shot and Killed Outside His Office

Updated: A South Carolina lawyer was shot and killed outside his office Wednesday evening by a man who then turned the gun on himself. And a second member of the state bar was killed the following day in an unrelated homicide in which authorities are investigating to see whether there…

Feb 4, 2010 12:29 PM CST

Peeved Judge’s Lawsuit Stalls Judicial Selection Process in South Carolina

A family court judge who was deemed unqualified by South Carolina’s Judicial Merit Selection Commission has filed a lawsuit challenging legislators’ control of the screening body. The South Carolina Supreme Court will hear the case as a matter of original jurisdiction, the Charleston Post and Courier reports. The commission vice…

Jan 27, 2010 3:09 PM CST