Name Organization Speaking At
Allison Sullivan
Allison is an honors graduate of Furman University with a bachelor's degree in political science and she earned her law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law. Allison is a thought leader in her areas of practice and has been a featured presenter for the South Carolina Bar, South Carolina Association of Justice, Injured Workers Advocates, and the National Business Institute. She is a contributing author to Law School for Non-Lawyers, The Briefcase Lawyer: Essential Information for Every Practitioner, and The Law of Workers Compensation in South Carolina. She is a past-president of the Injured Workers Advocates, a past-chair of the Leadership Columbia Alumni Association, and currently serves as chair of the Board of Directors for Special Olympics South Carolina.
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Bluestein Thompson Sullivan LLC
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Andrea Roche
Andrea C. Roche is a founding partner of Williams & Roche. She is a former member of the South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission, serving from 2006 until 2014. She was named Chairman of the Commission by Governor Sanford and served in that role from 2008-2010. Before serving on the Commission, Andrea was a partner at an insurance defense firm where her practice consisted primarily of defending employers and insurance companies in workers’ compensation claims.
Andrea is a graduate of the Yale Law School, widely considered the top law school in the country, and a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Following graduation from Yale, she clerked for the Honorable Robert F. Chapman on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Andrea also clerked for the Honorable Carol Connor of the South Carolina Court of Appeals and served as a staff attorney for the Court.
She is Past President and past Board Member of the Board of Directors
of the South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Educational Association. She has
spoken at numerous conferences on Workers’ Compensation issues. She taught Legal Writing at USC School of Law and various courses in the Legal Studies Department of South University.
Andrea is a member of the Basilica of St. Peter in Columbia. She is President of the Society of St.
Vincent de Paul, St. Peter’s Conference and teaches in the RCIA program. She is a former Board Member of Kids’ Chance
of South Carolina and Katrina’s Kids.
She and her husband enjoy following college sports .
Williams & Roche, LLC
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Gary Cannon
Gary M. Cannon
SC Workers' Compensation Commission
Columbia, SC
Gary M. Cannon was appointed Executive Director of the South Carolina
Workers’ Compensation Commission in March 2009. As Executive Director, Mr.
Cannon oversees the business operations of the Commission's five functional
departments: Administration, Claims & Mediation, Information Services,
Insurance & Medical Services, and Judicial.
Each department is under the supervision of a director and is organized
into one or more operational divisions.
Mr. Cannon previously worked for the Municipal Association of South
Carolina as Director of Intergovernmental Relations and the International
City/County Management Association as Director of Fund and Membership
Development. He also served in
management positions in city and county government in North and South Carolina.
He has served on the International Association of Industrial Accidents Boards
and Commissions and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the United
Way Association of South Carolina.
He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where
he earned Bachelor of Political Science and Master of Public Administration
degrees and is a graduate of the Senior Executive Institute of the University
of Virginia, the South Carolina Executive Institute and Leadership South
Carolina.
SC Workers' Compensation Commission
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Joseph Dasta
Joseph Joe R. Dasta
McWhirter Bellinger & Associates, PA
Columbia, SC
Mr. Dasta joined McWhirter Bellinger & Associates, PA in 1997 and works primarily in the Columbia office. He practices in the areas of automobile accidents, workers' compensation, wrongful death, premises liability and all forms of personal injury. Mr. Dasta graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of South Carolina in May, 1990, with a Bachelor of Science, Criminal Justice and received his J. D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1994. He was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 1994.
Mr. Dasta is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Association for Justice, the South Carolina Association for Justice, the Injured Workers' Advocates, and the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Educational Association. After joining the Army ROTC at the University of South Carolina during his undergraduate studies, Mr. Dasta was commissioned as a Military Police Officer in the United States Army Reserves in 1990 and served in the Army Reserves for twenty-one (21) years and retired as a Major in August 2011. He was assigned to the 108th Training Division at Fort Jackson, South Carolina for the first ten (10) years of his military service and he spent the last eleven (11) years of his military service as a Judge Advocate with the 12th Legal Support Organization, at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
McWhirter Bellinger & Associates, PA
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Landon Hughey
Landon Rocky Hughey
McAngus Goudelock & Courie, LLC
Columbia, SC
Landon Rocky Hughey practices in the Columbia office of McAngus Goudelock & Courie, LLC. He graduated cum laude from the University of South Carolina in 2000 and the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2003. He was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 2003, as well as the United States District Court, District of South Carolina. Rocky Hughey focuses his practice in the area of workers' compensation defense. He frequently appears before the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Commission, representing the interests of employers, insurance carriers and self-insured clients throughout the state. He regularly lectures before various organizations on issues related to workers' compensation law. Rocky has also been recognized by the South Carolina Supreme Court as a certified mediator and maintains a statewide mediation practice. Rocky is a member of the South Carolina Bar, Richland County Bar Association, South Carolina Defense Trail Attorneys' Association and South Carolina Workers' Compensation Educational Association.
Outside of work, Rocky enjoys spending time with his family, including his wife and three children. He and his family enjoy spending time at the beach and traveling together. Rocky also enjoys watching the South Carolina Gamecocks and is active in the local community.
McAngus Goudelock & Courie, LLC
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Michael Burkett
Michael W. Burkett
Dayson Shalabi Burkett Law Firm, LLC
Columbia, SC
Michael Burkett practices
workers’ compensation and personal injury law.
Michael earned his
Bachelor of Science, magna cum laude ,
from The Citadel in 1995 and his J.D. degree from the University of South
Carolina School of Law in 1999. While in law school, he served as Chief Justice
of the Moot Court Bar and captain for one of the school’s two American Bar
Association National Appellate Advocacy Competition teams. He was named a
member of the Order of Barristers in 1999, and he received Student Compleat
Lawyer Award from the School of Law Alumni Association in 1999. He is the
author of the Workers’ Compensation Chapter in the South Carolina Bar
publication South Carolina Administrative Law Practice and
Procedure . Michael is also a Certified SC Civil Court Mediator.
He was admitted to the
South Carolina Bar in 1999, and he is a member of the South Carolina Workers’
Compensation Educational Association. He is admitted to practice before the United
States District Court for the District of South Carolina and all South Carolina
State Courts. Michael was also named to U.S. News Best
Lawyers for Workers’ Compensation Law in 2018-2022. He holds an AV Preeminent
rating from Lexis Nexis Martindale-Hubbell, indicating the highest level of
ethical and professional excellence.
Michael worked as an insurance defense attorney for twenty-two years, representing employers and their insurance carriers in workers’ compensation claims, and he now represents injured workers as well individuals injured as a result of the negligence of others.
Dayson Shalabi Burkett Law Firm, LLC
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Morgan McQueeney
Morgan Turner McQueeney
Holder Padgett Littlejohn & Prickett, LLC
Charleston, SC
Morgan T. McQueeney practices in the firm's Charleston, South Carolina office. She has 15 years of experience representing insurance carriers and their insureds, self-insureds, third-party administrators, and government entities across a variety of industries.
Morgan has tried numerous cases before the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Commission and practices exclusively in the area of workers' compensation. She practiced with a large, South Carolina-based insurance defense firm in the Charleston area before joining HPLP in 2020.
Morgan grew up in the Upstate of South Carolina, and, after waiting tables in Shem Creek in college, she was determined to move down to the Lowcountry. She met her husband while in law school. They now live with their daughter on Daniel Island. Outside of work, Morgan enjoys taking trips to the park and the beach, biking, and boating with her family.
Morgan received her B.S. in Business Administration from the Honors College, University of South Carolina, and received her J.D. from University of South Carolina School of Law. She is an active member of the South Carolina Bar and South Carolina Workers' Compensation Educational Association.
Holder, Padgett, Littlejohn & Prickett, LLC
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Neal Lourie
Neal M. Lourie
Lourie Law Firm, LLC
Columbia, SC
Neal Lourie is owner/partner at Lourie Law Firm, LLC. His Areas of Practice are Personal Injury, Workers' Compensation/On-the-job Injury and Criminal Defense. He received his B.A. in 1990 from Tulane University and his J.D. in 1993 from University of South Carolina School of Law. He was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 1994 and U.S. District Court District of South Carolina in 2000. Mr. Lourie is a member of the South Carolina Bar, American Bar Association, Richland County Bar, Injured Workers' Advocates, South Carolina Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, South Carolina Association for Justice and South Carolina Workers' Compensation Educational Association
Lourie Law Firm, LLC
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Shannon Poteat
Shannon Till Poteat
Robinson Gray Stepp & Laffitte, LLC
Columbia, SC
Shannon Till Poteat is a shareholder with the firm of Robinson Gray Stepp & Laffitte, LLC. She grew up on Embeford Farm which was a working dairy farm in Orangeburg County, S.C., She graduated from the Orangeburg County public school system and earned her B.A. from Emory University in 1990 and her J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1993, where she served as Articles Editor of the South Carolina Environmental Law Journal and as a staff member of the American Bar Association Real Property, Probate and Trust Journal. Shannon was also a member of the Order of Wig and Robe and a recipient of the John Holland Scholarship and an American Jurisprudence Award for Remedies. She co-authored The Law of Workers' Compensation in South Carolina, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Editions . She is a member of the Richland County Bar Association and the South Carolina Bar as well as the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Educational Association.
She was the 2008-2009 Chair of the Workers' Compensation Section of the South Carolina Bar. She initiated and co-chaired the South Carolina Bar Young Lawyers' Division Cinderella Project, which collects gently used evening dresses to be given to needy students for prom. She and her husband Chad have three daughters, Leigh, Lane and Summers. She is a member of St. Martins in the Fields Episcopal Church and the Fort Jackson Riding Association where she loves to spend time with her two horses Coco and BB.
Robinson Gray Stepp & Laffitte, LLC
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Thomas Beck
T. Scott Beck, Esq.
Chairman, South Carolina Workers Compensation Commission
Commissioner Beck was appointed to the South Carolina
Workers’ Compensation Commission on June 30, 2008 by Governor Mark
Sanford. In 2010, he was elected by the
Commission as Interim Chairman and subsequently nominated by Governor Nikki
Haley for reappointment in 2012, 2014, and 2016 as Chairman. In 2018, 2020 and 2022, he was re-appointed
as Chairman by Governor Henry McMaster. He graduated with a BS Degree from Penn State
University in 1981 and from the University of South Carolina School Of Law in
1999. Prior to joining the Commission,
he served in various positions in law enforcement from 1979-1996 and most
recently as an Assistant Attorney General from 2000-2008 prosecuting healthcare
fraud cases. Commissioner Beck served as
a City Councilman in North Augusta, South Carolina from 1993-1996, and was
elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives, serving from 1996-2000. Commissioner Beck currently serves as Secretary of the National Association of Workers’ Compensation Judiciary and Past-President of the Southern Association of Workers’ Compensation Administrators.
S.C. Worker's Compensation Commission
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