SC Bar Young Lawyers Division Blog

Andrew Walden is an associate attorney in Womble Bond Dickinson’s Charleston office, where he works in the Business Litigation practice group and focuses primarily on construction litigation and other business disputes. Andrew previously worked in small firm with a general civil practice and more recently for a regional insurance defense firm defending workers’ compensation claims. Andrew has served on the board of directors for MUSC’s Storm Eye Institute and on the leadership team for the American Heart Association’s Heart Ball. Andrew and his wife Rachel have a two-year-old son and one-year-old daughter. By any measure, his plate was full.   But Andrew has found time to serve his country as well. Last summer, Andrew embarked on a journey to join the U.S. Army’s JAG Corps. This required application and acceptance into a crowded and competitive field, and then completion of six weeks of basic training where he obtained necessary military skills and conditioning at Fort Benn...

We’re privileged to be able to do what we do day in and day out even if it may not seem that way at the time. Our clients ask us, as conductors, to take various facts and legal principles and harmonize them in a way that best serves their interests. It’s hard. It’s stressful. In some circumstances, it may even be impossible. Yet when we’re on the stage, it’s easy to forget that we’ve got back-up – the various “Rules of” many of us thought (or hoped) we left behind in school. These little beauties form the foundation on which we do our work. They’re part of our “physics,” the principles that underlie almost everything we do. While we grow our practice, skills, and styles, though, it’s easy to become enmeshed in the “complicated,” the “unique,” or the “novel” issues that we want to take to our appellate courts or hope will change analysis on some delicate or heretofore unknown legal issue forever. The boring stuff can take care of itself, right? Say you’ve filed a Summons and Comp...

By Mikail Clark              In the purchase of property in consumer and commercial transactions involving multiple transferors (e.g., tenants in common, joint tenants, or tenants by the entirety), many issues arise regarding the tax implications of such transactions.  One issue that commonly arises is whether the reporting person must issue a Form 1099-S (Proceeds from Real Estate Transactions) to  each  transferor in accordance with his ownership interest or whether he can simply issue a Form 1099-S to  one  of the transferors. While many reporting persons prefer to issue one Form 1099-S for ease in accounting, the law requires otherwise.                           Generally speaking, in the case of multiple transferors of real estate, the “reporting person” (i.e., ...

When it comes to Star Wars knowledge and Game of Thrones’ trivia, upstate attorney Jeremy Summerlin is unparalleled.  Jeremy, a shareholder with the Horton Law Firm, practices civil law with a focus on employment discrimination and business litigation.   For those who know Jeremy, he has an uncanny ability to relate employment law to Star Wars, as reflected in his recent article for the South Carolina Young Lawyer’s Division Publication entitled “Does the Rebel Alliance’s Suspicious Procurement of the Death Star Plans Render it Liable Under South Carolina’s Trade Secrets Act?” [1]  or his blog post on whether Han Solo was an independent contractor or an employee of the Rebel Alliance on his blog, www.trueorflsa.com.  Jeremy graduated from Bob Jones University in 2009. Jeremy then interned in the Thirteenth Circuit Solicitor’s Office for a year before attending the University of South Carolina School of Law.  During law school, Je...

First, a confession: although I was born and raised in McCormick County, I have done a terrible job of exploring the area surrounding McCormick. I have explored Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, and even Maryland. For whatever reason, however, McCormick County and the areas adjacent have remained a blind spot in my worldview.   Greenwood also remained obscured by my ignorance, despite the fact that I pass through it multiple times each month. Enter the 2019 Blues, BBQ, & Bar CLE hosted by the South Carolina Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Although the CLE was targeted at criminal defense attorneys, the sessions ran the gamut from appellate practice to trial technique, judicial ethics to effective use of exhibits. Most importantly, the CLE coincided with Greenwood’s Festival of Discovery, an annual tradition inviting the best pit masters in the Southeast to descend upon Greenwood to spread the Gospel of Smoked Meat. On the day of the CLE, I wasn’t sure what to...

Rachel G. McConoughey is Chair of the South Carolina Bar’s Drone Task Force and practices real estate litigation, quiet title actions, drone law, and trademark law at McConoughey Law Firm in Greenville. The past month or so has seen two big new developments having to do with drones:   1) The FAA came out with  new enforcement guidance  for drone operations that interfere with wildfires, law enforcement, or other emergency response efforts, and  2) Congress  passed the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018  on October 3, 2018, which has now been sent to the president for his signature. New FAA Enforcement Guidance The FAA's news release, titled “FAA Targets UAS Violators for Enforcement,” states that the FAA has changed its enforcement guidance,  even for first time offenders , for drone operators who interfere with wildfire suppression  efforts, law enforcement, or emergency response efforts. From the news release: ...