Event Information

Brian is a partner at Buxton & Collie, LLC in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. He leads the firm’s commercial and residential real estate practice. Brian was sworn in as a member of the South Carolina Bar in 2009 and has practiced in the areas of commercial and residential real estate, corporate governance, and business planning since his admittance to the South Carolina Bar. Brian graduated from Clemson University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and received a Master of Business Administration from Clemson in May of 2006. He received his Juris Doctor from the Charleston School of Law in 2008 and his L.L.M. in Taxation from the University of Alabama School of Law in 2012.

Chris is an Associate with Buxton & Collie, LLC in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.  Chris is an experienced attorney who joined Buxton & Collie's Business Team in 2024. His practice focuses on advising business entities on a variety of corporate transactions, including business purchases and sales, private securities offerings, and general corporate governance matters. His hometown is in New Jersey, where he attended undergrad receiving a B.A. in Economics and Psychology from Ruthers University. He later moved to Charleston and attended Charleston School of Law where he received his J.D.  

Doug practices in the intellectual property practice group with representation including patent, trademark, and copyright protection. He assists clients with protecting intellectual property through patent, trademark, and copyright prosecution, as well as intellectual property litigation.  

Doug has experience drafting and successfully prosecuting patent applications for various fields, including mechanical, medical and chemical technologies. He helps clients with establishing and protecting trademark portfolios, guarding same against improper third-party use, and conducting enforcement actions. His practice areas include litigating intellectual property issues, drafting and prosecuting patents in the chemical, pharmaceutical, mechanical and gaming fields, rendering opinions and validity analyses, obtaining and defending trademark registrations as well as advising clients with regard to intellectual property, trade secrets, branding and marketing issues, along with contractual and other business matters. 

Doug has written articles that have been published such as Preventing Valuable Trademarks from Becoming Lost Change in the Couch, Greenville Business Magazine, March 2010; The Pension Protection Act of 2006: Wide Ranging Changes to ERISA Not Limited to Just Employee Benefits, South Carolina Lawyer, July 2007; Employee Paychecks: Proper Withholdings Can Prevent Employers from Picking Up The Tab, South Carolina Lawyer, July/August 2006; Inadvertently Disclosed Documents: What are Your Ethical Obligations?, South Carolina Lawyer, July 2003.

Freddy is the owner and attorney at The Faircloth Law Firm, LLC, a boutique estate planning law firm based in Rock Hill, South Carolina.  He focuses his practice in the areas of estate and wealth transfer planning, probate, estate and trust administration, and business succession planning. 

A Rock Hill native, Freddy received a B.S. in Accounting from Clemson University in 2000.  He received a J.D. from the University of South Carolina in 2003, where he was a member of the South Carolina Law Review and a recipient of the Arthur B. Custy Tax Award.  He received his Masters of Law (LL.M.) in Taxation from the University of Florida in 2004. 

Freddy was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 2003 and the North Carolina Bar in 2005.  He is a South Carolina Supreme Court Certified Specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law and currently serves on the South Carolina Supreme Court Estate Planning and Probate Law Specialization Advisory Committee. 

Freddy is a frequent lecturer in the areas of estates and trusts.  In March 2020 he was elected as a Fellow of The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel ("ACTEC"), an organization of approximately 2,500 trust and estate lawyers and law professors from across the country who are elected by their peers in recognition of having made outstanding contributions to the practice of trust and estate law.

In addition to his law practice, Freddy is the Executive Vice President of the Rock Hill Coca-Cola Bottling Company, which his family has owned and operated since 1908.  Freddy also serves as a member of the Board of Directors and as Secretary of South Atlantic Canners, a bottling cooperative in Bishopville, South Carolina, that supplies Coca-Cola products to bottlers across South Carolina and North Carolina.  He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Beverage Association, the trade group representing the soft drink industry in South Carolina.

Freddy is married to the former Catherine Hicklin, and they have three daughters.
 

Harvey M. Watson III is a graduate of The Citadel and Emory University School of Law. He has worked in private practice since his admission to the SC Bar in 2005. He began at a small firm with a general practice, handling personal injury and domestic litigation, then later real estate closings before joining the Law Offices of Desa Ballard. He now calls on that varied background as a partner in the firm of Ballard & Watson, where he handles appellate litigation of a varied nature, but devotes the majority of his practice to representation of licensed professionals before regulatory boards and agencies. As part of that focus, he has the opportunity to represent many attorneys involved with pending disciplinary investigations before the Office of Disciplinary Counsel. He also assists attorneys and firms who hope to prevent such matters from arising (or recurring) through consultation regarding law firm and trust account management generally. Harvey enjoys assisting clients when broad, generalized rules of professional conduct must be translated and applied to issues that arise in the real world practice of law, such as handling difficult clients, interpreting vague and confusing advertising limitations, or when associates suddenly depart.

Harvey serves on the SC Bar's Professional Responsibility Committee to gain insight into the evolution of the Rules of Professional Conduct, and the Ethics Advisory Committee to help contribute to their reasonable interpretation and application.

Jim is managing partner at Buxton & Collie, LLC in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.  He works regularly with corporate entities on a multitude of matters such as corporate governance, shareholder buy-outs and succession issues, private securities  offerings, business purchase and sale agreements. Jim holds an A.B. in History  from  Princeton  University in 1995 and received his J.D. from the University of South Carolina in 2002 where he was awarded the James L. Petigru Compleat Lawyer Bronze Award upon graduation. Jim is admitted to practice in Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. He has served on the South Carolina Bar’s Judicial Qualification Commission and  currently serves as Immediate Past  Chair of the South Carolina Bar’s Corporate, Banking and  Securities  Law  Section.  Jim  also  serves  as  a representative  on  corporate  law  for  the  South  Carolina  Law  Initiative,  a  legislative  advisory commission of the South Carolina General Assembly housed at the University of South Carolina School of Law.  

Lucy C. Sanders graduated with honors from Furman University in 2005 and received her Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the Charleston School of Law in 2009.  During law school, she served as a Research Editor of the Charleston Law Review, was awarded the Editorial Excellence Award, competed on the Moot Court team, and worked as a Teaching Fellow.  Ms. Sanders previously worked as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Deadra L. Jefferson of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, a Children's Advocacy Specialist at Greenville Hospital System, and an adjunct college professor. Ms. Sanders has been practicing employment law for over a decade and is admitted to practice in South Carolina, as well as in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Ms. Sanders is currently a member of the Charleston County Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, and the National Employment Lawyers Association.

Lucy has over a decade of experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in state and federal employment litigation. In addition to litigation, she devotes a significant portion of her practice to advising employees and small businesses on employment related issues, helping clients understand employment laws, and seeking meaningful resolutions of employment claims through mediation and negotiation.

Ms. Sanders served as a board member for the Center for Heirs' Property Preservation from 2016-2022 and has served on the Board of Compass Collegiate Academy, a new charter school in downtown Charleston, since 2019.
 

Michael is a partner at Buxton & Collie, LLC in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. His practice focuses on real estate and business law, including the transaction side and the disputes that arise in those areas. He enjoys helping clients work through issues to put themselves, and their business interests, in as good a position as possible. Michael graduated from Clemson University in 2009, earning a B.S. in Financial Management, with an emphasis on Real Estate Investments, and a Minor in Accounting. After college, Michael worked in commercial real estate before shifting careers by attending law school. Michael received his J.D. from Charleston School of Law (2014), where he was a member of the Federal Courts Law Review and competed at multiple national writing and advocacy competitions. He is admitted to practice in South Carolina (both State and Federal Courts) and serves the community by being the legal representative of the Charleston County Community Development Advisory Board and as the commissioner of the Charleston Lawyer Softball League.

Nate is a Partner with Buxton & Collie, LLC in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.  His practice focuses on advising business entities on a wide variety of corporate transactions, including business purchases and sales, private securities offerings, executive compensation arrangements, partner/shareholder buy-outs, and general corporate governance matters. Nate earned his B.A. in Political Science from Clemson University, and holds a J.D. from the Charleston School of Law and a M.B.A. from the College of Charleston.   

Nate is a co-author of the 2018 SC Bar publication South Carolina Business Law Handbook: A Practical Guide for Business Owners, Entrepreneurs and Their Counsel. He currently serves as a member of the SC Bar’s Corporate, Banking and Securities Committee.

Sarah is an associate attorney with Buxton & Collie, LLC in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Her practice focuses on corporate transactions including corporate governance, private securities offerings, and mergers & acquisitions. Sarah received her B.A. in Political Science from the University of Delaware in 2021 and earned her J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law. She is a member of the Young Lawyers Division and the Corporate, Banking, and Securities Section of the South Carolina Bar.