Event Information

Amy L. Gaffney is an attorney and mediator in the lowcounty of South Carolina.

Ms. Gaffney received her Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Queens University of Charlotte (formerly: Queens College) in 1991 and her Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina in 1994. She completed her mediation training and was certified in 1995.  Over her career, she has practiced with several firms before launching Gaffney Mediation in January 2025.  

Ms. Gaffney has extensive mediation experience, having been involved in the resolution of a broad range of tort and employment matters, professional negligence cases, civil rights disputes, and other matters. She also conducts trainings on various aspects of mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Ms. Gaffney is a member of the South Carolina Bar Association, the Charleston County Bar Association, the South Carolina Association of Justice (SCAJ), the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, and the American Bar Association-Dispute Resolution Section. She is AV rated by Martindale Hubbell and has been recognized by Super Lawyers, Legal Elite of the Midlands (Employment) and Lowcountry (Mediation), Top Lawyers, and The Best Lawyers in America, which has awarded her the designation of 'Lawyer of the Year' in the area of Employment Law-Individuals in Columbia, SC on three occasions. She is admitted to the Bar of the State of South Carolina, the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. 


 

Mr. Matthews is certified by the South Carolina Supreme Court as a Specialist in Employment & Labor Law.  He is also a certified mediator, and often mediates employment claims. 

From April 2000 to March 2004, Mr. Matthews was General Counsel and Deputy Director for the South Carolina Department of Public Safety (SCDPS).  From 1999 to 2000, he was Deputy Director for Labor at the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing & Regulation (LLR).  Prior to state service, from 1995 to 1999, Mr. Matthews practiced law with Kilpatrick Stockton, L.L.P. 

Mr. Matthews has previously served as the Chairman of the South Carolina Bar’s Employment & Labor Law Section, and has also served on the Employment & Labor Law Specialization Advisory Board of the S.C. Commission on CLE and Specialization.  He is a member of the South Carolina Bar and North Carolina Bar 

Mr. Matthews received a B.A. summa cum laude from Furman University, an M.A. in International Relations from Yale University, and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.  Prior to attending law school, Mr. Matthews served with the Central Intelligence Agency.  In 2019, he retired as a Captain from the U.S. Navy Reserve.

A certified specialist in labor and employment law, Nekki Shutt has been involved in the employment / human resources field for more than 35 years, beginning with her work in the human resources department of a publicly-traded property and casualty insurance company. Nekki eventually became the company’s corporate recruiter, responsible for hiring approximately 225 employees on an annual basis as well as managing its temporary workforce. This is her 29^th year practicing law. 

While Nekki earned her juris doctor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, she worked as a graduate assistant in what is now the Master’s in Human Resources Program at the USC Darla Moore School of Business. She also clerked for the law firm that represented the insurer where she had previously been employed. Since then, Nekki has built on her human resources experience and developed a civil litigation practice with an emphasis on employee benefits (ERISA) and employment law. From 2000 to 2005, she also was an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, teaching a course for third-year law students entitled “Diversity and the Law,” emphasizing social justice issues involving race, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, and the poor.  More than six years ago, Nekki, Malissa Burnette, and Kathleen McDaniel founded Burnette Shutt & McDaniel, PA, a progressive law firm with employment law, civil rights, and civil litigation as its focus.  Notably, the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law recently selected their law firm as the recipient of 2024 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Distinguished Service Award. 

                                    Nekki frequently has received professional recognition and honors. She is secretary of the SC Bar’s Board of Governors and in the House of Delegates.  She chaired the SC Bar’s Labor and Employment Section in 2010, and has served on its  executive  committee for 15 plus years.  For the past five years, she has been named “Lawyer of the Year” in ERISA Litigation by peers through Best Lawyers.  She was the 2018 Recipient of the Civic Star Award from the Richland County Bar Association. She was a 2016 honoree by South Carolina Lawyers Weekly for Leadership in the Law. The University of South Carolina School of Law Alumni Association awarded her the James Petigru Compleat Lawyer Award, Silver Medallion in 2005. Her peers have selected her for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2010 to present in the field of labor and employment law. She’s also continuously educates others in her field through her writing and seminar presentations like “Modern Family I and II” on protecting LGBT clients, “Against the Wind: a history of the civil rights movement in South Carolina as told through case law and testimony,” and 10 years of the annual Fundamentals of Employment Law in South Carolina, one of the SC Bar’s Essential Series. Nekki authored the ERISA chapters in the Labor and Employment Law for South Carolina Lawyer 2007, 2011, 2019, and 2024 editions. She also is the author of a chapter on employment law for Paralegal Survival Guide, published by South Carolina Bar Association in 2010. 

Nekki was one of the lead attorneys in Condon v. Haley, the 2014 federal lawsuit which made South Carolina the 35 state to recognize marriage equality in the country.

•        2020 Matthew J. Perry Civility Award, Richland County Bar Association

•        Cochair for April 2023 Roadways to the Bench Event in Columbia, SC

•        Hilton Head Bar Association Super CLE speaker on Tips from the Bench (2/7/22)

•        Leadership South Carolina speaker on Implicit Bias: How it affects decisions (9/9/21, 9/9/20)

•        2020 SC Bar Convention panelist for Corporate, Banking, and Securities Section on Implicit Bias and How to Address it to Better Serve Your Clients (1/24/20)

•        2019 Annual Judicial Conference: Staff Attorneys and Law Clerks session panelist on Implicit Bias (9/17/19)

•        USC School of Law Employment Law Society, Inaugural Speaker on Federal Employment Practice (2/25/19)

•        Women in Law/Richland County Bar Association Panel Speaker (2/20/19)

•        2019 South Carolina Women Lawyers Association Annual Conference Federal Practice: Advice from the Bench (11/8/19)

•        South Carolina Supreme Court Institute: Teacher Training on Federal Courts (2017–present)

•        Federal Bar Association Summer Associates Seminar at Matthew J. Perry Courthouse, Presenter (2007–2019)

•        Bridge the Gap, Federal Court Practice in South Carolina, Speaker (three times per year 2010–2017)

•        Carolinas Business Litigation Year in Review: A View from the Bench (2/9/18)

•        Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Lecturer of five-part Series on Faith and Technology: Raising Families in a Tech-Savvy World (2018)

•        SC Bar Employment Law Essentials CLE, Litigating Employment Law Claims, Speaker (2014–2019)

•        SC Bar Webcast Wednesday, Speaker, A Pragmatic Approach to Federal Practice (10/4/2017)

•        2016 Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference Magistrate Judges meeting speaker, 2015 Federal Rule Changes

•        2016 Association of Corporate Counsel Annual Meeting panelist, Emerging Issues in Electronic Discovery (11/8/16)

•        South Carolina Bankruptcy Law Association speaker: Ethics and Social Media (5/1/2016)

•        USC School of Law Tech Series speaker: Blurred Lines: Social Media and Ethics (9/2/2015)

•        USC School of Law Class Reunion, CLE speaker: Ethics and Social Media (10/17/14)

•        Guest Lecturer for various classes at USC School of Law, including Judge Joseph F. Anderson, Jr.’s Evidence class, Professor Eichhorn’s Advanced Civil Procedure class, Professor Leonardi’s Legal Writing and E-discovery classes, Professor Durant’s E-discovery class, Professor Virzi’s Legal Writing class, Judge Lockemy’s American Legal History, and USC Honors College pre-law courses

•        South Carolina Association for Justice CLE speaker: Social Security: A View from the Bench (8/5/21, 8/7/14), Employment Law (8/2/18, 7/28/17)

•        South Carolina Law Review E-discovery Symposium panelist: Ethical Challenges in E-Discovery: Passwords, Privilege, Profiles, & Beyond (3/1/13)

•        SC Bar Law School for Journalists speaker on Federal Courts (12/12/12)

•        National Advocacy Center Federal Guidelines Seminar speaker: Ethical Issues for CJA Panel Attorneys (9/24/12)

•        E-Discovery CLE panelist in Charlotte, NC, Where Reality Meets the Law (1/18/12)

•        South Carolina Legal Services CLE speaker in Myrtle Beach, SC, Federal Practice in South Carolina (11/09/11)

•        NC/SC Labor and Employment Law Conference panelist in Charleston, SC, Insight from the Federal Bench (10/22/11)

•        Recipient, Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics Outstanding Alumna of the Year Inaugural Award, Inducted graduating students into the GSSM Alumni Association (5/28/11)

•        Girl Scouts Women of Distinction Dinner in Columbia, SC, Keynote Speaker (4/26/11)

•        South Carolina Law Review Symposium panelist in Columbia, SC, Judicial Ideology: Responses to How Judges Think by Richard Posner (10/22/10)

Personal

•        Naturalized American Citizen

•        Conversant in Farsi (Persian) and Italian, some French

•        Married to employment attorney R. Hayne Hodges III

•        Cooking, reading, traveling, and sports

•        Heathwood Hall Episcopal School Lacrosse play-by-play announcer

Tara Nixon graduated from Augusta State University in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in History and a minor in Political Science. Prior to graduating from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2014, she served in executive positions with a variety of non-profit organizations, including Habitat for Humanity and the University Hospital Foundation, and taught middle school English. Following law school, Tara served as a Staff Attorney for the South Carolina Supreme Court before transitioning to a private defense firm where she practiced in the areas of labor and employment law, municipal law, and education law. In 2016, she joined the South Carolina School Boards Association as Staff Attorney, where she provided policy and legal services to South Carolina’s school districts and frequently presented on topics including a wide variety of employment law issues, FOIA, the South Carolina Ethics Act, and Roberts Rules of Order. She obtained a master’s degree in Political Management with a concentration in Advocacy Politics from The George Washington University in 2019. Tara worked for the South Carolina Administrative Law Court as a Staff Attorney, and currently serves as Assistant Labor Counsel for the S.C. Department of Labor, Licensing & Regulation. She is a member of the South Carolina Bar Association’s Administrative Law Committee, teaches yoga, and enjoys spending time with her three rescue pit bull terriers.