Speaker Biographies

Access to Justice in the Digital Era CLE October 25, 2018

Justice John Cannon Few of the South Carolina Supreme Court

John Cannon Few was born in Anderson, South Carolina. He grew up in Greenwood, and graduated from Greenwood High School in 1981. He attended college at Duke University, where he served as Duke's athletic mascot - the Blue Devil - during his junior year. John graduated from Duke in 1985 with an A.B. degree in English and Economics.
John went on to attend the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he was a member of The Order of Wig and Robe and The Order of the Coif. He also served as Student Works Editor of the South Carolina Law Review. He received his Juris Doctor degree in 1988.
John began his legal career as law clerk to The Honorable G. Ross Anderson, Jr., United States District Judge. He practiced law in Greenville from 1989 until 2000, and is admitted to practice in South Carolina, the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. John served as a trial judge on the Circuit Court of South Carolina from July 2000 until February 2010. He then became the Chief Judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals, a position he held until February 2016. John was sworn in as a Justice on the Supreme Court of South Carolina on February 9, 2016.

John is a frequent public speaker. In 1996, he gave a speech entitled "Citizen Participation in the Legal System," for which he was awarded first place in the American Bar Association's nationwide Edward R. Finch Law Day speech contest. Since then he has given numerous speeches to bar associations and civic groups throughout the country. In December 2012, he delivered the commencement speech, entitled "What it Means to be a Lawyer," to the graduates of the Charleston School of Law. In April 2016, he delivered the commencement speech to Lander University. His most frequent speech is entitled "The Courage of a Lawyer," which he has delivered to lawyers' groups in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Arizona, and California. John wrote an article based on the speech that appeared under the same name in the Winter 2013 edition of the ABA's "Litigation" journal.

John has also been active in teaching law. He served on the faculty at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada, from 2005 to 2009. He was an Adjunct Professor of Law and later a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Charleston School of Law from 2008 to 2012. John is now an Adjunct Professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law. He has also given or moderated over one hundred and twenty-five continuing legal education seminars in South Carolina and numerous other states.
John is a Fellow in Liberty Fellowship, and as a part of Liberty Fellowship is a member of the moderator corps at The Aspen Institute. John completed the Diversity Leaders Initiative through The Riley Institute at Furman University in 2010. In December 2012, the Charleston School of Law awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

John has always been active in community service, even outside of his primary employment in public service. Before becoming a judge, for example, he read to pre-school children on a weekly basis for years in the Greenville Head Start program, tutored middle-school children through Save our Sons, taught middle and high school classes as part of the Junior Achievement program, and served on the board of Friends of the Reedy River. While he was a circuit judge, John served on the 2003-04 Governor's Water Law Review Committee. John now chairs the South Carolina Access to Justice Commission.

Kana Rahman was born in Vienna, Austria to parents from Bangladesh. She grew up in British Columbia, Canada and immigrated to the United States with her mother, father and sister in 1986 when she was 13 years old. She attended Spring Valley High School and chose to make the Midlands of South Carolina her home after law school.

Kana is a former State Prosecutor for Richland County and also practiced with a successful criminal defense firm prior to forming Kana Law Office, LLC.

Education:
>University of South Carolina School of Law, 1996-1999, J.D.
>Penn State University, 1992-1996, B.A. (Major: Psychology/English)
Bar Admissions:
>South Carolina, May 2000
>U.S. District Court District of South Carolina, December 2002
>U.S. Supreme Court, 200?
Professional Associations and Memberships:
>Richland County Bar Association
>South Carolina Bar Association
>South Carolina Women Lawyer’s Association
>South Carolina Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (SCACDL)
>Certified Guardian and Mediator/Arbitrator
Volunteer Activities:
>Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) – Guardian Ad Litem

Gouth Carolina.

Our Distinguished Speakers for Super CLE 2020

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.

Desa Ballard, Esquire

Desa Ballard began her private practice in 1997 after 10 years with a national law firm and 4 years with the South Carolina Judicial Department. She is the senior attorney at Ballard & Watson, Attorneys at Law. Her firm focuses its practices on ethics, professional responsibility, appellate court litigation, and civil litigation. She is licensed to practice law in South Carolina and the District of Columbia. She is a certified mediator for circuit and probate court.

Francine Norz is the Head of White Collar prosecution for the 14th Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office for all five Counties (Beaufort, Hampton, Allendale, Colleton and Jasper Counties). She has been an Assistant Solicitor for 10 years.
Francine graduated as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar from Columbia University School of Law (New York City). She graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in Finance from Fordham University (New York City).
Prior to moving to South Carolina, Francine started her law career as an Associate at the Law firm of Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C. She worked mainly on corporate mergers and bankruptcies. Francine then moved to Chicago and worked as a Senior Associate at the law firm of Schiff Hardin and Waite. She concentrated in general commercial litigation and securities litigation. Francine also served as counsel to the Chicago Board Options Exchange Business Conduct Committee. This role allowed her a great education in securities litigation and broker/dealer regulation. Francine then returned to Washington, D.C. to work as Assistant General Counsel at the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. a self- regulatory organization previously called NASD Regulation (now called FINRA). Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. “FINRA” is a not for profit organization authorized by Congress to regulate registered broker-dealers. FINRA’s mission is to safeguard the investing public against fraud and bad practices. Securities fraud investigations and disciplinary actions against broker-dealers, as well as, general commercial and securities litigation was Francine’s background before coming to South Carolina. She has passed the Bar exam and been admitted to practice in South Carolina, New York, New Jersey and Illinois.
Tom Davis and his wife, Reid, have lived in Beaufort, South Carolina, since 1985. They have three daughters, Elizabeth, Grace and Claire.

Tom Davis obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Furman University in 1982, graduating magna cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1985, graduating with highest honors and as a member of the Order of the Coif.

Tom has practiced law in Beaufort at the law firm of Harvey & Battey, P.A., since 1985. He also served in Gov. Mark Sanford’s administration as senior policy advisor, co-chief of staff, deputy chief of staff and chief of staff from 2003 to 2007.

During his time with the governor’s administration, Tom led the State of South Carolina’s successful negotiations with the State of Georgia in regard to the two states developing collaboratively a new port on the Savannah River in Jasper County.

In November 2008, Tom was elected State Senator for South Carolina Senate District 46, which is comprised of almost all of the southern Beaufort County, a portion northern Beaufort County, and a portion of Jasper County, and he was re-elected to second and third four-year terms in 2012 and 2016.

Tom currently serves on the following Senate committees: Finance; Banking and Insurance; Labor, Commerce and Industry; Medical Affairs; Corrections and Penology; and Invitations (where he serves a chairman).

Stephen Spitz, Esquire

Stephen Spitz has taught property, real estate transactions, environmental law and equity, for a long time at two different law schools in this State, USC Law School and CSOL.

Currently, he is of counsel to a law firm with a number of offices in the Northeast, including Pa., NY, Del, N.J. The firm has about 200 lawyers and is named Stevens & Lee. In S.C., Stevens & Lee has a single office, in Charleston, and at the moment we have two lawyers in that office, Mr. Spitz and Ryan Neville.

As for special distinctions – he is not real sure that there are any, but upon information and belief, they say that he is a co-author of a Bar Publication called Real Estate Transactions: Cases and Materials (2d ed. S.C.Bar) (He claims that it the very worst book on this subject (as to his knowledge) no one else has ever elected to write a book on this highly entertaining topic. It is further said, again merely upon information and belief, that he is a so-called “Admiral in the Great Navy of the State of Nebraska” (a truly landlocked state) and this permits him to be in charge of various goldfish and tadpoles in that state, as the Governor of that State may so direct.

Barbara Seymour, Esquire

Barbara M. Seymour handles a variety of matters related to legal and judicial ethics, professional discipline, and Bar admissions at the law firm of Clawson and Staubes, LLC in Columbia, SC. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Management and Marketing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1990 and her Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia in 1993. Barbara worked as a trial lawyer until 2000 when she joined the staff of the Office of Disciplinary Counsel to the Supreme Court of South Carolina where she investigated and prosecuted allegations of misconduct, incapacity, and contempt of court by lawyers. She served as the Deputy Disciplinary Counsel from 2007 until 2017.

Barbara is a member of the South Carolina Bar, the Georgia Bar, the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, the South Carolina Association of Ethics Counsel, and the South Carolina Women Lawyers Association. She currently serves on the Law Related Education, Unauthorized Practice of Law, Future of the Profession, and Diversity Committees at the South Carolina Bar. In 2006, Barbara was named the Law Related Education Lawyer of the Year. She was a 2006 and 2011 Fellow of the National Institute for the Teaching of Ethics and Professionalism. Barbara was an adjunct instructor in the Professional Legal Assistants Program at Converse College and currently teaches in the Paralegal Degree Program at Midlands Technical College. Her courses have included Civil Litigation, Legal Research & Writing, Business Law, Torts, Ethics, and Law Office Management.

Judge Deborah A. Malphrus

Judge Deborah Ann Malphrus is a South Carolina low country native. Born in 1964, to the late Patricia Ann Lowther Malphrus and the late Joseph Nelson Malphrus, she is the youngest of three children. Judge Malphrus’s earliest memories revolve around the legal and judicial system. Her childhood home was located across the street from the Jasper County Courthouse and adjacent to her father’s law office. Her service to the judicial system began at the age of four when she served as jury girl for “big court” in Jasper County.
Judge Malphrus graduated high school from Thomas Heyward, Ridgeland, SC. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from the University of South Carolina in 1987. While at the University, she was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha fraternity and also a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. During and after law school, Judge Malphrus worked as a Registered Nurse at Baptist Medical Center and Lexington Medical Center. She was also a volunteer nurse at the Columbia Free Medical Clinic.

Though Judge Malphrus considered attending medical school after nursing school, her passion was and has remained to the law. After graduating from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1990, Judge Malphrus served as law clerk to the late Honorable Carol Connor. Judge Malphrus’s father instilled in her the love for the law. However, it was Judge Connor who made her passionate about aspiring to serve in the judiciary. After completing her clerkship to Judge Connor, Judge Malphrus served as an Assistant Solicitor under the Honorable Randolph Murdaugh, III, in the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit. Thereafter, she entered the private practice of law with her brother and father, Joseph N. Malphrus and Joseph N. “Joey” Malphrus, Jr. When her father retired from the practice of law and her brother was elected Jasper County Probate Judge, Judge Malphrus joined the law firm of Moss, Kuhn & Fleming. She was the firm’s managing attorney for its Ridgeland office.

Judge Malphrus has always been active in her community. She served as a Trustee for St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, where she is a member. She served as a member of the Jasper County Recreation Advisory Board, the Jasper County ad hoc committee studying alternative sentencing and jail overcrowding issues, and member of the Jasper County Gopher Hill festival committee. She has also served as a member of the board of directors for the Jasper County Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, and a member of the board of directors of Palmetto Electric Cooperative. Judge Malphrus was the youngest person to serve on the Palmetto Electric Cooperative board of directors and was also the youngest person and first female to serve as Chairman of the Board of Palmetto Electric Cooperative. In terms of her service to her legal community, Judge Malphrus has served as the secretary and treasurer for the Jasper County Bar Association, as a presenter and lecturer at legal-nurse consultant seminars, and as a presiding judge for the Ney National Mock Trial competitions held at Furman University. She views pro bono service to be part of the price one pays for practicing law, especially in a small community. She has given countless hours of pro bono service to those in need in Jasper County.

Judge Malphrus considers her three children, Brann, Sarabeth, and Andrew to be her greatest accomplishments. To be sure, she enjoys the salt waters and swamps of the low country, her marsh tacky horses, primitive camping, gardening, playing the piano, reading, and spending time at her mountain cabin. However, her greatest delight is simply being with those she loves.
On May 25, 2011, Judge Malphrus was elected by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina to the Family Court Bench.

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 $100.00 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.

Harry Goldberg, Esquire

Harry L. Goldberg has engaged in the practice of law since receiving his Juris Doctor degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1973. His practice primarily involves mediation, arbitration and litigation in medical malpractice, personal injury and business cases. Additionally, Mr. Goldberg is certified as a Circuit Court Civil Mediator and Arbitrator by the Circuit Courts for South Carolina and the United States District Court for South Carolina.

He has presented numerous seminars on Alternative Dispute Resolution and has lectured at various continuing legal education programs sponsored by the South Carolina Bar. Mr. Goldberg is a past chairman of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the South Carolina Bar. He has appeared on television discussing the benefit of mediation in South Carolina. He is a member of the Resolution of Fee Disputes Board and the House of Delegates of the South Carolina Bar.

Mr. Goldberg is also a member of the District of Columbia Bar. Mr. Goldberg has an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell and has been selected for inclusion in the Best Lawyers in America in the practice areas of mediation and arbitration every year since 2012. He was named Mediator of the Year in South Carolina for 2012 by Best Lawyers in America.

Kathleen Chewning Barnes

Kathleen C. Barnes is a solo practitioner at Barnes Law Firm, LLC, in Hampton, SC, where she focuses on state and federal appellate practice, as well as state and federal motions practice and trial consulting.

She received a B.A. degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her J.D. degree from the Charleston School of Law. Kathleen was a member of The Charleston Law Review and received the 2010 Arthur Gasque Howe Trial Advocacy Award. She is admitted to practice in South Carolina and Georgia state courts, as well as the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

She served as law clerk to the Honorable John Cannon Few, Chief Judge for the South Carolina Court of Appeals (now South Carolina Supreme Court Justice), from 2010 to 2012. Kathleen is a member of the Rotary Club of Hampton County and lives in Hampton with her husband, William Barnes, an attorney with Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick, and her daughter.