Name Organization Speaking At
Amy Cox
Amy W. Cox was born and raised in Spartanburg and is a proud graduate of Paul M. Dorman High School. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a strong emphasis in accounting from University of South Carolina, Upstate. She went on to earn her Juris Doctorate from University of South Carolina, School of Law after which she became an Assistant Solicitor for Richland County.
During her time as an Assistant Solicitor, Ms. Cox prosecuted cases ranging from worthless check charges to criminal sexual conduct with a minor, 1 st degree. She also served as the main domestic violence prosecutor for Richland County for approximately 18 months. She currently serves on the board for Safe Homes Rape Crisis Center.
Ms. Cox taught several CLEs over the years covering Worthless Check Law, Changes to the Domestic Violence Statute, and Trial Advocacy.
She was honored to be given the opportunity to serve as the Associate Probate Judge for Spartanburg County in January of 2018. In that capacity, she gained the skills and knowledge to handle staffing and administration issues. She was appointed to the Clerk of Court position by Governor Henry McMaster on January 22, 2019. She is very proud and grateful to have the privilege to serve the citizens Spartanburg County.
Ms. Cox has worked closely with the Spartanburg County Bar, Seventh Circuit Judges and with Chief Justice Beatty on ideas to keep the court system in Spartanburg County moving forward safely.
Spartanburg County
-
Annie Rumler
Annie
Rumler earned her Bachelor’s Degree in religion from Wofford College. She
attended graduate school at the University of South Carolina where she
participated in a dual degree program earning both her Juris Doctorate as well
as a Master’s Degree in Social Work. She is currently a Deputy General Counsel
for the South Carolina Department of Corrections and is a member of the SC
Bar’s Diversity Committee.
S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice
-
Bridget Brown
Bridget Brown is a staff attorney with SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center. Bridget's work focuses on removing barriers for formerly incarcerated people and making strides in the re-entry field through increased advocacy and criminal justice reform.
Bridget graduated from USC School of Law in 2010 and has continued to pursue her passion, working with underprivileged, underrepresented South Carolinians in the criminal justice field. Bridget started her legal career as Public Defender in Richland County and later went into private practice. When she realized she no longer wanted to practice in the courtroom, she jumped at the opportunity to work at Appleseed, which has allowed her to continue the work she loves with the people she cares about, but on an even broader scale.
Bridget lives in Columbia with her husband and their dog, Wellie. She enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, reading, cooking, and has developed a keen interest in bourbon.
S.C. Appleseed Legal Justice Center
-
Carlie Woods
For the past nine years, Carlie Woods has been an
Administrator with the County of Lexington Magistrate Court. Carlie is currently the Senior Assistant
Court Administrator and manages all of the operational, administrative and
financial duties for the Domestic Violence, Fraudulent Check, DUI and
Preliminary Hearing Courts. She also
oversees the operations of the Central Court Jury Trials. Carlie was a team member of former Governor
Nikki Haley’s Domestic Violence Task Force.
Carlie grew up in Pennsylvania, and furthered her
education at West Virginia University where she received a Bachelor’s Degree in
Foreign Languages. She then attended
Remington College where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Organized
Management. Carlie moved to Lexington,
South Carolina in 2008 where she worked for the Department of Juvenile Justice
before finding her career at Lexington County.
Carlie enjoys spending her free time with her husband and her two
children.
Senior Assistant Court Administrator - Magistrate Court
-
Cecil Brown
C. Yates Brown, Jr. grew up in Laurens County and is the son of Dr. Cecil Y. Brown and Elizabeth Hansley Brown. He is married to Erin Long Brown and they have two girls, Charlotte and Blakely.
Mr. Brown graduated from Laurens Academy in 2002 and the University of South Carolina in 2006 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and a Minor in Political Science. He earned his Juris Doctor Degree from Thomas Goode Jones School of Law of Faulkner University in 2009. He was admitted to the South Carolina Bar on November 16, 2009.
Mr. Brown joined the Eighth Circuit Solicitor's Office in September of 2009 as an assistant solicitor. He was assigned domestic violence and sexual assault cases in Laurens and Newberry Counties. In 2010, Mr. Brown was placed in charge of the Newberry County General Sessions docket for the Eighth Circuit. In 2013, Mr. Brown made the move to Abbeville County where he handled the General Sessions docket. In 2015, Mr. Brown became Deputy Solicitor for Abbeville and Greenwood Counties.
Mr. Brown has been active in many civic and community organizations, including: Board of Directors, Laurens YMCA, Laurens Academy Board of Directors, Eighth Circuit Representative, SC Young Lawyers Division, and Noah's Ark Preschool Board of Directors.
Mr. Brown and his family are active members of First Presbyterian Church of Greenwood. In their spare time, the family enjoys the lake, beach, family farm and Gamecock sports.
Eighth Circuit Solicitor's Office
-
Chelsea McNeill
Chelsea attended undergrad at Coastal Carolina University and law school at Charleston School of Law. She is a career public defender, starting her career as a law clerk at the Charleston Public Defender's Office, then as an assistant public defender at the 4th Judicial Circuit Public Defender's Office. She is now the Circuit Defender for the 8th Judicial Circuit Public Defender's Office covering Greenwood, Laurens, Newberry and Abbeville Counties. She is a member of both SCACDL and NACDL and is the 8th Circuit Representative for the Public Defender's Association.
Eighth Circuit Public Defender
-
Clifton Newman
In 2000, Judge Clifton Newman was elected to the South
Carolina Circuit Court by the South Carolina General Assembly and he has served
continuously since. He has served as the Presiding Judge over the Multi-Week
Trial Docket for South Carolina, a specialized docket of complex construction
and other multi-week cases. He is a Business Court Judge. He has been appointed
by the South Carolina Supreme Court to serve as Presiding Judge and as Special
Referee in several complex civil and criminal cases.
Judge Newman is a member of the Chief Justice’s Commission
on the Profession, the South Carolina Commission on Judicial Conduct and the
South Carolina Circuit Court Advisory Committee. He is a past President of the
American College of Business Court Judges and he has served as Co-Chair of the
Judges Initiative Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar
Association.
Judge Newman is Chairperson of the South Carolina Civil
Rules Committee, a member of the South Carolina Judicial Council, and the John
Belton O’Neal Inn of Court where he is a member of the mentoring team.
He recently became an Adjunct Professor at the USC School of
Law where he teaches Trial Advocacy.
S.C. Circuit Court
-
Dayne Phillips
Price Benowitz LLP
-
Deyaska Sweatman
Deyaska is a native of Columbia, SC and graduate of Dreher
High School. She began her undergraduate
studies at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia and finished her undergraduate
degree at the University of South Carolina-Columbia where she majored in
Political Science with an emphasis in Public Policy. After college, Deyaska attended North
Carolina Central University School of Law (“NCCU School of Law”) where she
graduated with a Certificate in Dispute Resolution.
While a student at NCCU School of Law, Deyaska served as a
Director on the Board of the National Black Law Students Association, a body of
law students from across the country.
In 2015, Deyaska was appointed to serve as the North
Carolina State Bar Young Lawyer Delegate to the American Bar Association House
of Delegates. She was the only African
American in the North Carolina delegation.
Her appointment came shortly after receiving the Charles F. Blanchard
Young Lawyer of the Year award in 2015, an award presented by the North
Carolina Bar Association to one young lawyer each year.
Deyaska currently works as a personal injury attorney and is
licensed to practice law in South Carolina and North Carolina. Her law firm is located in the Forest Acres
community.
She currently serves as Co-Chair on the SC Bar Diversity
Committee’s Pipeline Subcommittee, and she also serves as Vice-Chair of the
Richland County Democratic Party.
Deyaska Spencer Law Firm, LLC
-
Frank Addy
A life-long Greenwood native, Judge Frank R. Addy, Jr. was born in
Greenwood, South Carolina in 1967 to the late F. Robert Addy, Sr., and Mary
Katherine Addy, a retired English teacher. Judge Addy is married and they have
two children.
Judge Addy attended the public schools of Greenwood County, and
upon graduating from high school, he enrolled in the Honors College at the
University of South Carolina. While in college, he was nominated for Phi Beta
Kappa. He graduated from USC cum laude in 1990 with a degree in International
Studies and a minor in business. While attending USC law school, he served as
Articles Editor for the Student Editorial Board of the Real Property, Probate
and Trust Journal, was president of the International Law Society, served on
the International Moot Court Team, and was a member of the Palmetto Law
Society. Judge Addy graduated from law school in 1993 and was admitted to the
SC Bar on November 15, 1993.
Judge Addy began his legal career as Assistant Solicitor for the
Eighth Circuit and was promoted to Deputy Solicitor in 1995. Upon the passing
of his father in early 1997, Judge Addy entered the private practice of law
while also assisting his grandparents in the family business. From 1998 to
1999, he served as Chief Public Defender for Greenwood and Abbeville Counties.
He was appointed Greenwood County Probate Judge on June 3, 1999 and was
subsequently reelected without opposition. From 2006 to 2007 he served
periodically as Special Circuit Judge during the convalescence of the late
Judge Wyatt Saunders. In 2008, Judge Addy assisted in establishing the Eighth
Circuit Drug Court.
Judge Addy has been active in many civic, community, and
professional organizations, including serving as a youth mentor for Greenwood
District 50, coaching the Greenwood High and Ware Shoals High mock trial teams,
and den leader for Cub Scout Pack 222.
From 2005 to 2006 he served as President of the South Carolina
Association of Probate Judges, chaired several committees of that organization,
and chaired the Probate Judge’s Advisory Committee to the Chief Justice from
2001 to 2003. Judge Addy received the Executive of the Year award from the
Emerald Chapter of IAAP in 2003. He currently serves as treasurer for the South
Carolina Circuit Judges Association, he is the Judicial Branch liaison to the
Department of Mental Health, and in 2021 he was appointed as the Circuit Court
representative to the Access to Justice Commission.
Judge and Mrs. Addy are active members of St. Mark United
Methodist Church. He is a member of
Greenwood Masonic Lodge #91, Greenwood Cotillion, and the Rotary Club of
Greenwood. In their spare time, the
Addys enjoy travel and anything to do with boats, the water, or Gamecock
Football.
S.C. Circuit Court
-
Lamar Fyall
Lamar Fyall is an Assistant Solicitor for the Fifth Judicial Circuit of South Carolina, which serves Richland and Kershaw Counties. He is a 2009 graduate of Winthrop University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology and a minor in Philosophy. In 2014, he received his Juris Doctorate from the University of South Carolina School of Law. He joined the Fifth Circuit Solicitor's Office as a Law Clerk in June of 2012 and became an Assistant Solicitor in December of 2014. Since that time, he has prosecuted a range of cases from misdemeanors to homicides and currently prosecutes cases for the violent crimes team.
Lamar Fyall is a member of the Young Lawyers Division of the South Carolina Bar Association and the Richland County Bar association where he serves on committees related to diversity, education and member services.
Mr. Fyall serves his community by attending neighborhood meetings on behalf of the Solicitor's Office, volunteering at various public schools, coaching the USC BLSA mock trial team, attending Career Fairs, working with youth and speaking for nonprofit organizations throughout the Midlands. He is also a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
US Attorney's Office, District of South Carolina
-
Leon Lott
Sheriff Leon Lott attended the University of South Carolina-Aiken, earning an Associate Degree in Police Administration, where he also played baseball. He went on to attend the University of South Carolina in Columbia earning a Bachelor Degree in Sociology and continued with graduate study for a Masters in Criminal Justice. Later, Sheriff Lott graduated from the FBI National Academy and Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Sheriff Lott earned a Masters in Emergency Management from Lander University.
Sheriff Lott came to the Richland County Sheriff's Department in 1975 as a patrol officer. In 1993, Sheriff Lott took the position of Chief of Police of St. Matthews, SC.
In 1996, he was elected Sheriff of Richland County.
Sheriff Lott is the Commander of the South Carolina State Guard with the rank of Brigadier General.
Sheriff Lott is a member of the First Baptist Church of Columbia. He is married and has four daughters and four grandchildren.
Richland County Sheriff's Department
-
Leslie Taaffe
Leslie has been employed with the South Carolina Judicial Branch in the Court Services division since September 2013. Leslie works closely with Circuit Court Judges, Family Court Judges, and Clerks of Court on a number of policies and procedures impacting the trial courts. Prior to working for the Judicial Branch, she was employed by the Richland County Probate Court as director of the Mental Health Court program - a diversionary court designed for non-violent, mentally ill offenders. She also worked in the Probate Court's estate division. Leslie is a volunteer arbitrator with the Richland County Sheriff's Department and responsible for overseeing progress and completion of juvenile cases referred to the Youth Arbitration Program.
South Carolina Judicial Branch Coordinator
-
Marcus Brown
Marc J. Brown is the
founding attorney of the Marc Brown Law Firm, based out of Columbia, South
Carolina. He is licensed in both South Carolina and Georgia, and practices in
the areas of Personal Injury and Workers’ Compensation. Although Marc’s
practice is based in South Carolina and Georgia, he has represented clients in
many jurisdictions across the United States. Marc earned a dual Bachelor’s
Degrees in Psychology and Criminology from the University of South Carolina in
2009. He received his Juris Doctor from Emory University School of law in 2014.
He initially began his legal career as an insurance defense lawyer with
Carlock, Copeland & Stair. He then transitioned to Nelson, Mullins, Riley
& Scarborough, where he represented multi-national corporations in complex
commercial litigation. In 2019, Marc founded the Marc Brown Law Firm. Marc is a
member of the South Carolina Bar, the State Bar of Georgia, the South Carolina
Association for Justice, Georgia Trial Lawyers Associations, and the American
Association for Justice. Marc currently serves on the following boards and
committees: Children’s Trust of South Carolina (board member); City Year
Columbia (board member); Communities in Schools of South Carolina (advisory
committee).
Marc Brown Law Firm, LLC
-
Matthew Buchanan
Matthew Buchanan graduated from the University of Cincinnati's College of Law in May,2004. While in law school, he clerked for the U.S. Attorney's office in Cincinnati and the Warren County Prosecutor's Office. He moved to South Carolina and passed the February bar in 2005. Mr. Buchanan worked for seven years at the Lexington County Public Defender's office before being hired as General Counsel of the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services. In that position, he has handled appeals in the South Carolina Court of Appeals and in the South Carolina Supreme Court. He is a member of the bar of the South Carolina District Court, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.
S.C. Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services
-
Robert Bank
Robert Louis Bank, Jr. began his legal career at the Richland County Public Defender's Office in 2013. Prior to that, he graduated from the University of South Carolina with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice in 2010. He subsequently graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2013. He also served as a fellow with the International Legal Foundation in Myanmar in 2018 and 2019 where he trained lawyers representing indigent citizens charged with criminal offenses. He is a life-long Columbia resident. His focus with the Richland County Public Defender's Office is sex crimes.
S.C. Commission on Indigent Defense
-
Seth Stoughton
Seth Stoughton is an Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law and an Associate Professor (Affiliate) in the university's Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Prof. Stoughton is a highly regarded policing scholar, with work published in the Emory Law Journal, the Minnesota Law Review, the Virginia Law Review, and other top academic journals, as well as in popular media publications including The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, and others. Prof. Stoughton is the principal co-author of Evaluating Police Uses of Force (NYU Press 2020). He serves as an Adviser to the American Law Institute, Principles of the Law, Policing, and has filed or joined multiple briefs amici curiae to the Supreme Court of the United States related to police procedure, including tactics and the use of force. A frequent lecturer on policing issues, Prof. Stoughton has presented more than 100 times to audiences that include the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference, the American Judges Association, the Conference of Chief Justices, judicial conferences in nine states, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and many more. He is also regularly interviewed about police matters in national and international media, with appearances on CNN, The Daily Show, FOX News (America's News HQ), National Public Radio, and PBS Newshour, among others.
Prior to attending law school, Prof. Stoughton served as an officer with the Tallahassee Police Department for five years. In that time, he trained other officers, helped write policies to govern the use of new technologies, earned multiple instructor and operator certifications, and taught personal safety and self-defense courses in the community. In 2004, he received a Formal Achievement Award for his role on the agency's Special Response Team. After leaving the police department, he spent almost three years as an Investigator in the Florida Department of Education's Office of Inspector General, where he handled a variety of criminal and administrative investigations. In 2008, he received a statewide award for his work combating private school tuition voucher fraud.
Prof. Stoughton earned his B.A. in English from Florida State University. He attended the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was an Articles Editor on the Virginia Law Review, an Elsie Hughes Cabell Scholar, and the recipient of the Thomas Marshall Miller Prize. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable Kenneth F. Ripple of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Prior to joining the faculty at South Carolina, Prof. Stoughton was a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. He is an associate member of the Virginia bar.
University of South Carolina School of Law
-
Susan Hackett
Susan Barber Hackett is an Appellate Defender with the Office of Appellate Defense. She represents individuals in their appeals following criminal convictions and in post-conviction relief matters. In 2018, she won the Martha Browning Dicus Award from the Public Defender Association for demonstrating remarkable competence, zeal, and adherence to the ideals of the legal profession. Previously, Ms. Hackett worked at the Office of Disciplinary Counsel where she investigated and prosecuted lawyers for violations of the Rules of Professional Responsibility. She also served as the Executive Director of the Center of Capital Litigation, a non-profit dedicated to the representation of individuals charged with capital crimes. While an associate at Blume, Weyble & Norris, LLC, she represented criminal defendants in state and federal courts. Upon graduating from law school, Ms. Hackett served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Deadra L. Jefferson in the Ninth Circuit. Ms. Hackett also taught legal writing at the University of South Carolina School of Law as an adjunct professor for two years. She graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2003, and graduated from Winthrop University in 2000. Ms. Hackett is a regular presenter at Public Defense 101: Fundamentals of the Profession, an annual seminar sponsored by the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense. Ms. Hackett is an active member of the South Carolina Bar, serving on the Professional Responsibility Committee, the Law Related Education Committee, the Practice and Procedure Committee, the Trial and Appellate Advocacy Section, and the Fee Disputes Resolution Board.
S.C. Judicial Branch
-
Teckla Henderson
Teckla Henderson is Senior Counsel for Duke Energy’s South Carolina regulatory legal team. Her practice includes serving as in-house counsel and representing the utility before the Public Service Commission of South Carolina. Teckla’s previous role included serving as the Director of Executive Affairs and prosecutor for the SC Department of Public Safety. Teckla also prosecuted on behalf of the City of Columbia. She is also a two-time judicial law clerk, first to The Honorable Clifton Newman of the SC Circuit Court and then later for The Honorable Shirley Robinson of the SC Administrative Law Court.
Duke Energy Corporation
-
Tonnya Kohn
-
Tristan Shaffer
Tristan Michael Shaffer is a 2009 graduate of Charleston School of Law. In addition to a private practice, he also serves, on a part-time basis, as Director of Litigation for the 8th Circuit Public Defender's Office. Mr. Shaffer started his career as a public defender in Richland County. He then went to work for Appellate Defense. Mr. Shaffer has spent several years in private practice handling a variety of matters including: criminal trials, post-conviction relief, personal injury, civil litigation and appeals.
Tristan M. Shaffer Attorney at Law
-
