Speaker Biographies

Our Distinguished Speakers for Super CLE 2023

The CLEs will be held at the Hilton Head Country Club, Hilton Head Plantation, 70 Skull Creek Drive, Hilton Head Island, SC. Please allow a few extra minutes for the security gate pass. Please tell security you are going to the country club for the Hilton Head Bar meeting.

David Lail, Esquire

David Lail's practice focuses on helping people that have experienced a life-changing event or crisis and found themselves with a real fight on their hands – a fight that many times involves powerful and connected interests on the other side. Regardless of the opposition, his approach remains the same – build the strongest case possible for trial and let the results speak for themselves.
Since he began practicing law in 2011, Lail has helped achieve over $181 million on behalf of injured clients – including over $54 million in jury verdicts and more than $60 million for victims of drunk driving.
Lail devotes much of his practice representing victims in Dram Shop Litigation and has written extensively on this niche practice area. Lail is a principal author of the book, "South Carolina Dram Shop Litigation: A Practice Guide" and is a contributing co-author of, "South Carolina Damages, Second Edition, Dram Shop Liability", both published by the South Carolina Bar. In addition, Lail is co-author of, "Dram Shop Discovery", published the American Association for Justice's (AAJ) Trial Magazine.
Lail also speaks regularly on representing crime victims and has conducted numerous trainings, presentations, and CLEs on Dram Shop Litigation for law enforcement agencies, the South Carolina Bar, The Charleston School of Law, the South Carolina Association for Justice (SCAJ), The National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA), and Strafford Publications.
As a lawyer advocate for victims, Lail is a member of The National Crime Victim Bar Association, The National Organization for Victim Assistance (VOCA), The National Alliance of Victims' Rights Attorneys & Advocates (NAVRA) and he has undergone victim advocacy training through the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center (OVC TTAC).
Lail is a member of The National Trial Lawyers: Top 100 and South Carolina Super Lawyers. Lail is also a Board Member and Executive Committee Member of the South Carolina Association for Justice (SCAJ), a member of the American Association for Justice (AAJ), and he is also licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia.
David received a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Kentucky in 2001 and then moved to Charleston in 2006 after a career with a Fortune 500 company. Next, David received an M.B.A. from The Citadel, highest honors, and a J.D., cum laude, from the Charleston School of Law where he was an Associate Articles Editor of the Charleston Law Review, a member of the Charleston School of Law Moot Court Board, and a Teaching Fellow in the Legal Research, Analysis, and Writing Department. During his legal study, David received CALI Awards for the highest law school grade in: Torts, Legal Research, Analysis, and Writing I & II, and Pleadings & Practice.
David lives in Charleston with his wife, Lauren, and their two children, Evie and Hugh.

Kelly Jolley, Esquire

Kelly Jolley is a high-energy speaker, author and health care and business lawyer. Originally trained as a corporate and health care litigator, Kelly is widely regarded as a go-to source for medical professionals, businesses and non-profits facing contract and licensing disputes or navigating technology, regulatory, and organizational development challenges.
Frequently sought as a speaker, Kelly’s down-to-earth humor enlivens legal and business topics. Kelly is passionate about people, public service, and successful businesses. She is especially inspired to help health care professionals and lawyers take their careers – and themselves – to the next level.
Kelly’s honors include being recognized by Best Lawyers in Health Care Law and Privacy and Data Security Law since 2019 and Super Lawyers in Health Care Law since 2012. She is an American Bar Foundation Fellow and has been rated AV Preeminent® by Martindale Hubbell.
Kelly founded Jolley Law Group in 2013 and enjoys leading the firm and its growth. When she isn’t working, Kelly will be laughing, cheering, or yelling with her husband John and their four children, as the circumstances demand.

Stephanie Brinkley, Esquire

Founder and Owner of Brinkley Law Firm, LLC, in Charleston and Greenville, South Carolina, Stephanie Brinkley focuses her practice on the complex area of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) and related legal issues impacting future families. She is the Chair of the Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART) Committee for the American Bar Association and manages its successful mentorship program. Her professional memberships also include the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (AAAA), the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), Resolve, and the Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy (SEEDS). She is also the co-author of Developing a Successful Assisted Reproduction Technology Law Practice, written with colleague Richard B. Vaughn, which is published by the American Bar Association.
As part of her practice, Stephanie represents clients throughout South Carolina seeking to build their families through surrogacy and/or gamete donation. She is also called upon to represent gestational carriers who have offered their services. With greater frequency, Stephanie is consulted to advise families transitioning divorce after creating children through third party reproduction. Parental disputes arising from genetic relationships (or lack thereof), same sex legal parentage issues, misapplication of medical consent forms, and ownership rights of unused embryos are rising among divorce litigants.

John Warren, III

John L. Warren III is an attorney with the Law Office of Bill Nettles. Previously, John clerked for Justice John W. Kittredge of the Supreme Court of South Carolina, Judge Donald C. Coggins, Jr. of United States District Court, and Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum, Jr. of the Fourth Circuit. John’s practice now focuses on whistleblower litigation, federal criminal defense, capital litigation, and appellate litigation. John is also the Co-Director of the University of South Carolina’s Moot Court Program.

Michael Abro, Esquire

Michael Abro is the Education and Outreach Coordinator for the South Carolina Bar’s Lawyers Helping Lawyers. She is also an adjunct professor of law. Michael began her legal career practicing law in a small firm. Before attending law school, she worked as a mental health counselor in community mental health settings in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and California. Michael earned a law degree from the Charleston School of Law, an Educational Specialist Master’s Degree in Counselor Education from the University of South Carolina, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from the Honors College at the University of South Carolina.

Michael develops curriculum for and provides continuing education seminars related to Substance Use and Mental Health topics. She teaches classes on the topic of developing professional identity and the connection between identity and wellness. Michael also has experience with developing critical practice skill curriculum modules for the legal profession. In addition, she is a certified family court mediator. Michael is trained in civil court mediation, as an attorney guardian ad litem, and in collaborative law.

Michael is licensed to practice law in the State Court of South Carolina, the Federal District Court for the District of South Carolina, and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. She has passed the examinations for licensure as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) as well as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC). (Completion of supervision hours needed prior to full LMFT and LPC licensure.) She is a member of the American Bar Association, South Carolina Bar, and the Charleston County Bar Association.

Mark Billion, Esquire

Mark is the founder of Billion Law, a corporate law boutique specializing in high stakes litigation and restructuring matters, including transactional matters carrying a significant risk of litigation.

There, he has represented entrepreneurs of all stripes for more than a decade, including one of the nation's most innovative cladding companies in its dispute with its former management, USA Rugby in its restructuring, and a bitcoin exchange in a litigation probable M&A deal. Dov Charney, the former head of American Apparel who Mark represented in a dispute with his backers, explained, "Mark fought aggressively at every turn, and it was great to work with him."

He started his legal career at an international law firm in New York where he served as a member of Microsoft's trial team in the billion-plus dollar Comes v. Microsoft matter. He left to clerk, and then associated with Delaware's leading bankruptcy boutique, where he joined the team representing the unsecured creditors committee in its successful eight-figure bid to access Dioscean funds for the benefit of abuse survivors.

He's lived in Bluffton for the past four years with his wife, Kristie, who teaches at Cross, two children, Moraya and MJ, and a menagerie of pets that he is not sure he wants.

The Honorable Shiva Hodges, Federal Judge

Judge Shiva V. Hodges was appointed to the bench of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina as a Magistrate Judge in 2010, where she has presided over bench and jury trials while managing employment discrimination and other civil cases, social security appeals, habeas corpus petitions, and prisoner civil rights actions. Judge Hodges’s criminal duties include initial appearances, arraignments, detention/bond hearings, criminal complaints, search warrants, and grand jury matters. She routinely handles mediations at the request of District Judges and federal practitioners. Before her appointment, Judge Hodges served as a career law clerk for six years to then-Chief District Judge Joseph F. Anderson, Jr., and was a litigator for Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, LLP, handling employment disputes, general civil disputes, and bankruptcy matters in South Carolina and North Carolina. She has authored thousands of opinions and orders since 2010 in federal civil cases and is currently working on a book on Social Security law and practice.

She obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of South Carolina’s Honors College, a Juris Doctor from the U.S.C. School of Law, and a Master in International Business Studies (Italian track) from the Darla Moore School of Business. She is enrolled in the Duke Law School Master of Judicial Studies LLM program, with an expected 2025 graduation.

Judge Hodges taught Advanced Legal Writing at the USC School of Law from 2013–2016 and is active in legal education and mentoring programs for lawyers and students. She is a frequent speaker on a variety of topics, including employment law issues, e-discovery, ethics and social media, implicit bias, and evidentiary pitfalls. Judge Hodges enjoys teaching regularly at the Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center. She is the Vice President of the Federal Magistrate Judges Association, Chair of its History and Archives Committee and Finance Committees, has served on its Diversity, International, Civics Education, and Convention Committees, and is the cochair for the April 2023 Roadways to the Bench program. She is also an active member of the Judges Advisory Council of the Lawyers Without Borders international organization, a member of the Leadership South Carolina Board, and a member of the Riley Institute Diversity Leaders Initiative Class of 2023. Judge Hodges received the Matthew J. Perry Civility Award from the Richland County Bar Association in 2020.

Michael Virzi, Esquire

Michael Virzi teaches courses in Professional Responsibility and Legal Writing at the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he has also taught Fundamentals of Law Practice and Professionalism and Advanced Legal Writing. He has a solo practice in Columbia, the Virzi Law Firm, which focuses on lawyer ethics, discipline, and malpractice. Michael is a former Assistant Disciplinary Counsel for the South Carolina Supreme Court’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel, prior to which he practiced primarily in the area of business litigation. He serves on the South Carolina Bar’s Professional Responsibility (Chair 2018-2020) and Ethics Advisory Committees (Chair 2007-2010). Michael is a frequent CLE speaker and law school guest lecturer on the topics of ethics, malpractice, and lawyer discipline and is a member of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility, the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, the South Carolina Association of Ethics Counsel, and Phi Delta Phi. He graduated cum laude from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2000.

Samuel Bauer, Esquire

Sam is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, a former President of the Beaufort County Bar Association and Former President of the South Carolina Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He is a regular speaker at the South Carolina Summary Court Judges School on topics including Evidential Alcohol Analysis and Search Warrants. He has served as a Public Defender, a Municipal Prosecutor, and on one unfortunate occasion as a Municipal Court Judge. Sam has been an Island Resident since his grade school years at Sea Pines Academy, and is the Father of Izzy Bauer (15), who already says she wants to be lawyer, but not one like her dad and Sylvie (1), who has yet decided on her career path.

The Honorable D. Garrison Hill, Court of Appeals

Judge D. Garrison "Gary" Hill was born in Greenville, South Carolina in 1964. His late father, Leo H. Hill, was former president of the South Carolina Bar; his mother Dr. Grace L. Hill, a retired educator and school psychologist. He has a sister, Lillian H. Pinto, and a brother, L. Howard Hill, Jr.
Judge Hill received a B.A. degree magna cum laude from Wofford College in 1986, and his juris doctor from USC Law School in 1989, where he was a member of the South Carolina Law Review.
After graduation from law school, he served as law clerk to Judge Billy Wilkins of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. From 1990 to 2000, he was a member of Hill, Wyatt & Bannister, a general civil and criminal practice law firm in Greenville. In 2000, he and his father started Hill & Hill, LLC, which was listed in the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Pre-Eminent Lawyers. The firm primarily handled business litigation, government law, and public utility law including the representation of numerous special purpose districts throughout the state.
From 2004 to 2017, he served as a resident Circuit Judge for the Thirteenth Circuit. On February 1, 2017, he was elected to the Court of Appeals.
Judge Hill served in the House of Delegates of the South Carolina Bar and as president of the Government Law Section. He is also the former editor-in-chief of the South Carolina Lawyer and the author of several legal articles. He and his father published Doing the Public's Business, a legal guide designed to assist lay members who serve on the boards of public bodies.
While in private practice, he served on the boards of the Greenville Literacy Association, Greenville Mental Health Association, YMCA Camp Greenville, and as chairman of the City of Greenville Board of Zoning Appeals.
Judge Hill has three children and is a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church.

Thank you to all of our distinguished faculty for their time and efforts to educate our members.

CLEs are free to all members of the Hilton Head Bar Association. To join the Hilton Head Bar, please mail $115.00 to the attention of treasurer Tyler Melnick at Finger, Melnick & Brooks, 35 Hospital Center Commons, Suite 200, Hilton Head Island, SC 29926.

To reserve your spot in our CLES, or if you are interested in speaking to our membership, please contact Margaret S. Day, Vice President, at Law Office of Margaret S. Day, LLC, P.O. Box 763, Bluffton, SC 29910 or (843) 836-3714.