Event Information

Jenny Desch received her B.B.A. from Temple University in 1995 and her J.D. from Western New England School of Law in 2001. She is licensed to practice in South Carolina, Massachusetts and Supreme Court of the United States.

Ms. Desch’s professional experience includes Assistant District Attorney, Hampden County, Massachusetts (2001 – 2005); Assistant/Senior Solicitor, Sixteenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor's Office, York, South Carolina (2005 – 2024) and Assistant Solicitor Fifth Judicial Circuit Solicitor's Office, Columbia, SC (2024-present).  She is a frequent presenter to include: South Carolina Commission on Prosecution Coordination Bootcamp and DV Bootcamp Faculty (2016 – 2023); SC Solicitor’s Conference (2020); Regular speaker at law enforcement and SCDPPS training programs on domestic violence; Presenter, Governor’s Statewide Domestic Violence Summit (2016); and Speaker at South Carolina Bar Convention, Criminal Law Section CLE, Columbia, SC, (January 2020).  

Ms. Desch professional activities include SCWLA Emerging Leader award recipient 2023; York County Bar Association President (2021 – 2023), YCBA Secretary 2020-2021; South Carolina Women Lawyers Association Board Member (2021 – Present); HER PLACE Board member (2021-present); Strangulation Task Force; Crisis Intervention Advisory Board (2023-present); NDAA Predicate Question Manual project (2022); Sugar Creek Elementary School, School Improvement Council; Safe Passage CAC MDT (2016-2024); Domestic Violence Task Force (York County); DV Fatality Review Committee Sixteenth Judicial Circuit representative and DV staffing coordinator; and SART/DART, DV team lead 16th Cir. Solicitors Office (2016-2021).

Kharimah Roacher Dessow received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in History from the University of South Carolina where she was a recipient of the Magellan Scholar Fellowship. After graduation, Kharimah matriculated at the University of South Carolina School of Law where she was a member of the Women in Law organization and the Pro-Bono Program. An ardent advocate for survivors of domestic violence and children, she completed an externship with the Lexington County Solicitor’s Office with their Special Prosecutor for Criminal Domestic Violence and completed extensive research on the co-occurrence of domestic violence and child sexual abuse.

Following her admission to the South Carolina Bar, Kharimah began her legal career with the South Carolina Legal Services Corporation where she represented  indigent citizens of South Carolina in housing disputes, access to education and special education hearings, consumer debt and consumer abuse cases, denial of public benefits appeals, wills, trusts, estates and family law matters. She then worked as an associate with the Brunson Law Firm, LLC where her primary areas of practice were social security and veteran’s disability, residential real estate transactions, personal injury, probate and family law matters. She later founded The Paraclete Law Center, LLC, a boutique law firm focusing on representing survivors of domestic violence and indigent families throughout the state of South Carolina. Her practice is largely concentrated in Family Court, where she helps clients with divorces, custody cases, adoptions and other related issues.

Kharimah is currently the Staff Attorney for the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (SCCADVASA) where she provides legal technical assistance and support to attorneys and other legal professionals representing survivors of domestic and sexual violence. In addition, she works to help identify and recruit pro bono and contract attorneys throughout the state. She also responds to calls from survivors of domestic and sexual violence and provides legal information and referrals to SCCADVASA’s 22 Member Organizations, legal services partners, and pro bono/low bono attorneys.

Kharimah is a licensed member of the South Carolina State Bar, the American Bar Association, and the Richland and Sumter County Bars. She is a graduate of the National Family Law Trial Institute and a member of the South Carolina Bar’s Young Lawyers Division and served on the Voices Against Violence committee. She was awarded the 2019 Judiciary Award for her service to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault by the YWCA of the Upper Lowlands and serves as a Guardian Ad Litem in highly contested domestic matters.

Led to become a lawyer because of her passion for helping survivors of domestic violence, Kharimah recognizes the need for a trauma informed and survivor centered approach to advocacy for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Krystal is the President and CEO of Project R.E.S.T. a 501(c)(3) domestic violence and sexual assault agency providing shelter, personal and legal advocacy as well as therapy services to victims in Spartanburg, Cherokee and Union counties. 

Krystal previously worked as a Staff Attorney at Project R.E.S.T. while operating her law practice, K. LAWS, LLC, a Real Estate, Family Law, and Estate Planning law firm she founded in 2020. 

Krystal obtained her Bachelor of Arts Degree in History from Norfolk State University and earned her Juris Doctor degree from Western Michigan University, Thomas M. Cooley Law School. Krystal is licensed to practice law in both South Carolina and Michigan.  

Prior to opening her law practice, K. LAWS, LLC, Krystal served as the Managing Attorney at South Carolina Legal Services, Inc. in Spartanburg, and Rock Hill.  As a civil legal aid attorney, Krystal devoted her legal career to representing low-income families, victims of domestic violence and senior citizens in civil matters such as divorces, custody disputes, adoptions, as well as defending evictions, foreclosures, and other property disputes. 

Over the years, Krystal has volunteered as a speaker for the SC Bar’s Law School for Non-Lawyer’s program as well as other legal clinics and educational series offered to the public by the South Carolina Bar. Krystal is very passionate about ensuring equal access to civil legal assistance for all South Carolinians. 

Krystal currently serves on the SC Bar Board of Governors, At-Large Member, and has served on the SC Bar House of Delegates, for the 7^th Circuit, since 2020.

Lisa Martin is an Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law.  Professor Martin teaches a seminar on Gender-Based Violence and directs the Domestic Violence Clinic, a clinical training program in which law students gain advocacy experience by representing clients who have been subjected to gender-based violence.  Under Professor Martin’s close supervision, clinic student attorneys assist clients to obtain Orders of Protection, Restraining Orders, Permanent Restraining Orders, and affirmative immigration remedies. Professor Martin’s research focuses on issues relating to gender-based violence, the rights of adolescents, and access to justice. 

Prior to joining the University of South Carolina faculty, Professor Martin was a member of the faculty at The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, where she was the Co-Director of the Families and the Law Clinic, the Director of the Experiential Curriculum, and taught Gender, Law, and Policy.  Prior to teaching, Professor Martin was a staff attorney and co-director of the interdisciplinary Teen Dating Violence Program at Women Empowered Against Violence (WEAVE) in Washington, D.C. and a litigation associate at Arent Fox LLP. 

Professor Martin received her B.A., magna cum laude, from the College of William and Mary, and her J.D., cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Olivia Stafford Jones is a native of Columbia, South Carolina.  She graduated from the South Carolina Honors College in 2001 with a B.A. in Spanish.  After graduation, Olivia lived in Chile for a year on a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, where she obtained an Associate’s Degree in Public Administration and became fluent in Spanish.  Olivia graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2007, having served as president of the Pro Bono Program. 

Olivia has previously worked as a staff attorney at the S.C. Administrative Law Court, a staff attorney at S.C. Legal Services (where she was named a Nelson Mullins Fellow), and an associate at a non-profit immigration law firm.  From 2015-2023, Olivia ran a solo practice, where she handled family law, family-based immigration, and probate work.  In September 2023, Olivia began serving as the Executive Director of the SC Bar Foundation.

Olivia is a member of the Richland County Bar Association, the Greenville County Bar Association, the Charleston County Bar Association, and the S.C. Women Lawyer’s Association.  Olivia is a current member and past chair of the Richland County Bar’s Public Service Committee (and has served on that committee since 2008), a member of the S.C. Access to Justice Commission, a member of the USC School of Law Pro Bono Program Advisory Council, a board member for the Palmetto Center for Children’s Legal Access, and the 2022-2023 president of the Rotary Club of Five Points (having been a member since 2009).  Olivia volunteers at the Homeless Legal Clinic (H.E.L.P.) and the Divorce Help Desk in Richland County.  In 2020, Olivia was honored to be named the S.C. Bar’s Pro Bono Attorney of the Year.