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Mr. Rawl is a Partner with Gordon & Rees and has a national litigation practice which includes, among other things,  class action defense and construction law.  Prior to joining Gordon & Rees in 2017, Mr. Rawl was with McNair Law Firm for approximately 20 years, where he was the Chair of their Class Action Practice Group.  Mr. Rawl has substantial class action experience. He has defended class actions in a wide variety of matters, including, but not limited to, construction claims, product liability claims, lender liability claims and claims arising under consumer protection statutes. He has litigated class actions in federal courts, state courts and in arbitration. He has defeated class certification in several matters and obtained summary judgement prior to class certification. He has removed class actions to federal court pursuant to the Class Action Fairness Act, and he has obtained significant opinions from federal appellate courts blocking class claims in arbitration.

Mr. Rawl received his Master of International Business Studies and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of South Carolina in 1995.  He then served as the first judicial law clerk to The Honorable P. Michael Duffy, U. S. District Judge, District of South Carolina, from 1995 until 1997.  Mr. Rawl has been active in the South Carolina Bar Association, including serving as President of the Young Lawyers Division, Serving on the Board of Governors, Serving as a member of the House of Delegates, and serving as Articles Editor for the South Carolina Lawyer.  Mr. Rawl is also active in the American Bar Association where he serves as a member of the House of Delegates and as a member of the Nominating Committee.
 

A. Marvin Quattlebaum, Jr. is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

He was nominated by President Donald Trump on May 7, 2018, and confirmed by the Senate on August 16, 2018.

Beth has been practicing law since 2001. Her practice focuses on business disputes, in courtroom and arbitration settings, including FINRA. Beth’s clients include publicly traded and private companies and their officers and employees operating in a wide array of industries such as real estate, insurance, energy and utility, restaurant and retail, financial investing, and health care. Beth also represents clients with trust and estate issues, and on appeals, particularly in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. She has handled successful appeals of cases involving issues of first impression and divided authorities. Beth also regularly assists other lawyers in ethics matters. 

Before joining the firm in 2013, Beth served as an adjunct professor in Advanced Legal Writing at the University of South Carolina School of Law and was an associate for five years at a Big Law firm. Beth completed judicial clerkships in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina. She received her law degree from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, where she served as Editor in Chief of the Law Review and was the National Association of Women Lawyers Outstanding Law Graduate. Her undergraduate degree is from Duke University.

Deborah Barbier graduated cum laude from the University of South Carolina School of Journalism in 1990. In 1994, she graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law. After law school, she served as a law clerk in state court to the Honorable Joseph A. Wilson, II, while he was the Chief Administrative Criminal Judge for the Fifth Judicial Circuit. She then served as a federal judicial law clerk for the Honorable Joseph F. Anderson, Jr. in the United States District Court. Ms. Barbier worked for fifteen years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina. The first five years she was the lead attorney for the district's Affirmative Civil Enforcement division where she primarily prosecuted civil health care fraud, qui tams, drug diversion, and procurement fraud. Ms. Barbier worked in the criminal division of the US Attorney’s Office for 10 years, prosecuting defense contracting fraud, criminal health care fraud, securities fraud, mortgage fraud, white collar fraud, tax fraud, and public corruption. She served on numerous task forces designed to combat financial crimes, health care fraud, terrorism, and public corruption. She was the lead attorney for the Asset Forfeiture division for two and a half years. She was the Chief of the White Collar Division for more than five years. She is currently in private practice specializing in complex civil litigation and white collar criminal defense.

Barbier has been named in the Best Lawyers in America for the last ten years. She is a member of the John Belton O’Neall Inn of Court. She is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and serves on the State Committee. She is a Fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the Litigation Counsel of America. She has been inducted into the American Law Institute. She has been consistently named to both Superlawyers and to America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators.

The Honorable J. Michelle Childs was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina in August 2010. She holds a B.S. in Management from the University of South Florida Honors College, a J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of  Law,  a Masters  in Personnel and Employment Relations from the University of South Carolina's Darla Moore School of Business, and a Masters of Judicial Studies from Duke University School of Law.

Prior to the federal court, she served as an At-Large Circuit Court Judge, including having responsibilities as the Chief Administrative Judge for General Sessions and Business Court for the Fifth Judicial Circuit of Richland and Kershaw Counties. Judge Childs also had the distinct honor of gubernatorial appointments as a Workers' Compensation Commissioner (2002-06) and as the Deputy Director for the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation's Division of Labor (2000-02), overseeing programs for Wages and Child Labor, OSHA, OSHA Voluntary Programs, Elevators and Amusement Rides, Migrant Labor, and Labor-Management Mediation. Judge Childs was formerly a partner with the law firm of Nexsen Pruet Jacobs & Pollard, LLP, in Columbia, South Carolina, where she practiced in the areas of employment and labor law and general litigation. Judge Childs is very active with various local, state, and national bar organizations, as well as community organizations. She currently serves as chair of the American Bar Association's Judicial Division and Secretary of the American Bar Association's Labor and Employment Law Section. She is also a member of the American Law Institute and the Council of the American Bar Association's Section of Litigation.

As a practicing lawyer and judge, she has lectured and served frequently on panels for topics regarding litigation and trial techniques, courtroom practices and procedures, discovery and expert witness issues, evidence, and various topics for new lawyers.
 

Judge Julius "Jay" Richardson serves on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.  Jay grew up in Barnwell, South Carolina before attending Vanderbilt University.  After graduating in 1999 with a Biology degree, Jay moved to Hawaii and worked at a pool-side bar-and-grill.  Jay then earned his juris doctorate from University of Chicago Law School, where he served as Articles Editor for the University of Chicago Law Review and right fielder for the law school's championship softball team.  Following law school, he served as law clerk for Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Richard A. Posner and US Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. He then practiced with Kellogg Hansen in Washington, DC, representing a variety of companies in contract, fraud, intellectual property, and antitrust disputes. Jay returned to South Carolina in 2009 as an Assistant United States Attorney focusing on prosecuting violent crime, gangs, terrorism, public corruption, civil rights, and narcotics trafficking. He led the prosecution of Dylann Storm Roof, where the jury convicted and sentenced Roof to death for his racist massacre of nine African-American worshippers during a Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
He and his wife Macon are blessed with four girls, Perry (12), Tayloe (10), Landry (8), and Dabney (3). 
 

Lindsay Joyner is a partner in Gallivan White Boyd’s Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina, offices.  She received a BBA cum laude, with honors in Economics from the University of Georgia, a J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law, and an I.M.B.A. from the University of South Carolina, Darla Moore School of Business. Following law school and before joining GWB, she enjoyed her time as a staff attorney for the Supreme Court of South Carolina. She recently celebrated ten years at GWB. Currently, her practice places an emphasis on probate and trust litigation and complex business and commercial litigation, including financial institution litigation and professional negligence. She regularly handles matters concerning contractual disputes, business torts, shareholder disputes, and other complex litigation arising out of business transactions. Lindsay also dedicates a portion of her practice to legal malpractice defense. Lindsay has presented matters in these practice areas before both state and federal courts. 

Lindsay appreciates that client service is equally as important as legal skills and knowledge. As a result, Lindsay makes client expectations and satisfaction a central point of her practice. She takes great effort to be accommodating and communicative with her clients at all times. 

Outside of her practice, Lindsay is very active with the South Carolina Bar and the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division.  She was recently sworn in as the chair of the South Carolina Bar’s House of Delegates, a position she will hold until 2024, and she is the chair-elect of the Bar’s Trial and Appellate Advocacy Council. She is a past president of the South Carolina Bar’s Young Lawyers Division and past chair of the South Carolina Bar’s Wellness Committee. Lindsay also served as a Co-Vice Coordinator for ABA Young Lawyers Division’s Fit2Practice initiative during the 2018-2019 year. Lindsay has also held numerous positions with community organizations. For her work for the profession and for the community, Lindsay was honored to receive the ABA’s On The Rise, Top 40 Young Lawyers; the Columbia Metropolitan Magazine’s Capital Young Professional of the Year, and she was part of the Lawyers’ Weekly’s 2018 Leadership in the Law class. Lindsay has also been consistently recognized by Best Lawyers and as a Super Lawyers Rising Star.

Lindsay is passionate about health and fitness, having taught a variety of group fitness classes for almost a decade prior to going into private practice. She remains a big proponent of group fitness, running, yoga, and Pilates as a means for mindfulness, stress management, and mental health as well as overall physical wellbeing. 

• Clemson University, B.A., cum laude, 1980
• University of South Carolina, J.D., 1984 (Order of the Coif, Moot Court, Law Clerk to Owens T. Cobb, Jr. Judge, South Carolina Circuit Court)
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• South Carolina, 1984
• U.S. District Court, District of South Carolina
• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth, Eleventh and Second Circuits
• Richland County Bar Association
• American Bar Association
• South Carolina Bar Association
• Federal Bar Association

Sheila Willis is a Partner in the Columbia office and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Affirmative Action and Federal Contract Compliance Practice Group. She is committed to finding practical, real world solutions to her clients’ employment law needs. She represents companies—large and small—as they navigate employment issues related to hiring, discipline, investigations, employment discrimination, unemployment, and other related issues. Sheila provides guidance to higher education institutions on Title IX Compliance and investigations  She has extensive experience providing compliance advice to federal contractors on affirmative action and OFCCP regulations and audits.  Sheila also has extensive experience working on collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and class actions under wage and hour state laws. Sheila also provides training for supervisors and managers on harassment, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) compliance, the Family Medical Leave Act, diversity and inclusion, and many other areas. 

Sheila is involved in various professional and community activities. She is a past president of both the South Carolina Women Lawyers’ Association (SCWLA) and the South Carolina Bar Young Lawyers (SCYLD) Division. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Columbia – Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the board of the National Conference of Women’s’ Bar Associations.  Sheila is active in the Richland County Bar, American Bar Association, and is a member of the Junior League of Columbia. 

Prior to attending law school, Sheila was a member of store leadership for a Fortune 500 retail company, providing employee supervision and managing a variety of employee issues related to wage and hour, workers’ compensation, discrimination issues, performance management, and other personnel issues. 

Sheila is a 2019 recipient of the Silver Compleat lawyer Award from the University of South Carolina School of Law Alumni Association. This award recognizes alumni who have made significant contributions to the legal profession and who exemplify the highest standard of professional competence, ethics, and integrity. 

She has also been named to the Columbia Regional Business Report’s list of 2018 Women of Influence, Columbia Business Monthly’s 2018 Best and Brightest 35 and Under,  Columbia Business Monthly’s Legal Elite of the Midlands in 2017 and the  American Bar Association’s  On the Rise – Top 40 under 40 in 2018.  She is also a 2018 South Carolina Super Lawyers – Rising Star and a 2019 recipient of the Leadership in the Law award.   She was awarded the Johnathon Jasper Wright Award by The Honorable Matthew J. Perry Chapter of the Black Law Students Association at the University of South Carolina School of Law, is a three-time recipient of the President’s Award a and a four-time recipient of the Start of the Quarter award from the South Carolina Bar Young Lawyers’ Division.