Event Information

Almand James Barron received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of South Carolina and was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 1998. Ms. Barron is also a member of the Richland County Bar Association, Lexington County Bar Association and the South Carolina Women's Law Association. She is a Fellow in the South Carolina Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and is Board Certified in Family Law by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. She has served on the Children's Committee, Professional Responsibility, Ethics Advisory, Judicial Qualifications and the Conventions Committee for the South Carolina Bar.

Ashby Jones is a graduate of Presbyterian College and the University of South Carolina School of Law.  She is the owner of Ashby Jones and Associates, LLC in Lexington. Ashby’s focus is domestic litigation, though she has practiced extensively in Circuit Court and is licensed to practice in the United States District Court and the United States Supreme Court.  Ashby is one of few South Carolina domestic practitioners admitted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, generally recognized by judges and attorneys as preeminent family law practitioners with a high level of knowledge, skill and integrity.  Ashby is Board Certified in the area of Family Law by the National Board of Trial Advocates and in 2022 was inducted into the charter chapter of the South Carolina Family Law Inn of Court as a Master.   She is the Family Law Section chair of the South Carolina Association for Justice.  Ashby holds an AV Preeminent peer-review rating from Martindale-Hubbell. She has contributed to the SCAJ journal, The Bulletin, and the national magazine Family Lawyer.  She was appointed by the Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court as a Lawyer-Neutral Member of the Commission on Alternative Dispute Resolution in 2022 and sits on the Advisory Board for the Lexington District One Center for Law and Global Policy Development. She speaks regularly at continuing legal education seminars. Ashby has been named one of the Legal Elite of the Midlands by Columbia Business Monthly and has been a Super Lawyers Selectee, both on numerous occasions. She has been named as one of the Best Lawyers in America on three occasions.  She is a 2022 recipient of the University of South Carolina Compleat Lawyer Award, which recognizes alumni for their outstanding civic and professional accomplishments, significant contributions to the legal profession, and those who exemplify the highest standards of professional competence, ethics and integrity.  In April of 2023, Ashby will be named one of the Top 25 Lawyers in South Carolina by Super Lawyers.

Dr. Henderson is a Licensed Psychologist in private practice since 2005. He is a Board-Certified Child Custody Evaluator. He is a Board Certified Forensic Mental Health Evaluator. His forensic work has focused on Child Custody, Parental Alienation, Parental Fitness, and Psychological Evaluations. He has been entered as a Family Court Expert Witness in Charleston County, Dorchester County, Richland County, Greenville County, Beaufort County, and Horry County. 

Emily's law practice has been exclusively devoted to Qualified Domestic Relations Orders ("QDROs") and other retirement benefit matters for twenty years. Prior to forming Emily W. McBurney, P.C., she was a founding partner of Kegel McBurney LLC and a shareholder at Davis, Matthews, & Quigley, P.C.

Emily is a recognized expert in the field of QDROs and provides QDRO preparation and consultation services for clients across the country.  She is a popular speaker and is frequently invited to lecture on this subject by legal and professional organizations nationwide. Emily has published numerous articles and contributed to various publications about QDROs. She has also written a QDRO blog for the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emily-w-mcburney/). 

Emily is a member of the Family Law and Employee Benefits Sections of the State Bar of Georgia and the Family Law section of the Atlanta Bar Association. She is a member of the QDRONEs, Georgia Association for Women Lawyers, Women In Pensions, and a Master in the Charles Longstreet Weltner Family Law Inn of Court. Emily served as the Staff Attorney to the Honorable Cynthia D. Wright during the inaugural term of the Family Division of the Fulton County Superior Court in 1998. Emily also served as a Staff Attorney for the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

Emily graduated, magna cum laude, from Brown University with a B.A. in 1990 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  She received her law degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1995.
 

Melissa specializes in litigation support for domestic matters and business valuation services. Her services include the preparation of financial declarations, alimony, child support and pension calculations, tracing projects, marital standard of living analysis and calculations of income and cash flow.  She also performs business valuations for a variety of purposes, including marital dissolution, estate and gift taxes, and commercial and shareholder disputes. In addition to being a CPA licensed in South Carolina, Melissa received the designation of Certified Valuation Analyst in 2002 and Master Analyst in Financial Forensics in 2010. She has testified on numerous occasions as an expert witness for the family courts and on issues regarding business valuations and business matters.

Education, Credentials and Special Training

Certified Public Accountant

Certified Valuation Analyst

Master Analyst of Financial Forensics

Master of Accountancy, College of Charleston

B.S., Marketing, Southern Illinois University