Speaker Biographies

Gun Trust CLE September 6, 2018

David Goldman, Esq.
Law Office of David M. Goldman
dgoldman@jacksonvillelawyer.pro

Mr. Goldman has over 20 years of business experience. He has been involved in starting and managing technology related companies involved in distribution, manufacturing, marketing, retail, direct marketing and ecommerce. With his broad business background, Mr. Goldman concentrates in the areas of business formations, business transactions, elder law, and estate planning, and asset protection. Mr. Goldman limits his practice to Florida and Federal law.
Mr. Goldman writes the Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog which deals with Florida Probate, Florida Estate Planning, Florida Elder Law, Florida Guardianship, Florida Business Law, Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense, and Florida Foreclosure Defense; Gun Trust Lawyer blog which deals with NFA Trusts and Gun Trusts and Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyers Blog which deals with Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense, and Florida Foreclosure Defense.

Mr. Goldman's education includes a J.D., Florida Coastal School of Law, 2006
2005 Deans Scholars 2006 Deans Scholars; University of London, 2005,
International Law. He is licensed to practice in Florida and Texas and is a member of the
Florida Bar Association, Jacksonville Bar Association, Texas Bar Association and American Bar Association.

Link for materials to Gun Trust CLE: https://web.tresorit.com/l#UBFiAJFrDGzaoudEX0eQ2w

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.

Family Law CLE November 9, 2018

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

Guy J. Vitetta has been a practicing trial lawyer since 1991 and has practiced exclusively family and divorce law in Charleston since 2002. He has earned a reputation for excellence in Family law representation and continues to hold an AV® Peer Rating*, the highest given by Martindale–Hubbell, which was awarded in 2005. This award is given to an attorney by his/her colleagues to honor their high regard for his or her professional and ethical skills. Eleven years as a public defender made Guy an effective and decisive litigator. In 2003 he became the first attorney in South Carolina trained in Collaborative Law. He is a founding member and past president of the South Carolina Academy of Collaborative Professionals. He is also a Certified Family Court Mediator in South Carolina and co-founded the Mediation and Meeting Center of Charleston. Guy currently serves on the Practice and Procedures Committee of the South Carolina Bar.

In 2016, Guy and colleague Sean Keefer, released an innovative software program, called Settlyd.com, for Judges and attorneys in South Carolina to assist in the organization and secure management of client financial data.

Originally from Philadelphia, PA, Guy graduated from Ohio’s Kenyon College with a B.A. in history and religion. He graduated from Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio in 1991. He worked on appeals for Death Row inmates while clerking in the Death Penalty Section of the Ohio Public Defender Commission during Law School. He then served as a Public Defender in Columbus, Ohio for two years and then in Charleston County, South Carolina for nine years before opening his private practice in Charleston, South Carolina.

Our Distinguished Speakers for Super CLE 2019

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.

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 of the law firm of Clawson & Staubes, LLC, represents lawyers, law firms, and judges in a variety of matters related to ethics and professional discipline. 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 School of Law in 1993.

Barbara worked for the Office of Disciplinary Counsel to the Supreme Court of South Carolina for seventeen years, investigating and prosecuting allegations of misconduct, incapacity, and contempt of court by lawyers. She served as the Deputy Disciplinary Counsel from 2007 until 2017. Before joining ODC, Barbara worked as a trial lawyer at Harris & Graves in the upstate.

Barbara is a member of the South Carolina Bar, the Georgia Bar, the South Carolina Women Lawyers Association, and the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers. She currently serves in the House of Delegates and 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 Ethics, Civil Litigation, Business Law, Torts, Legal Research and Writing, and Law Office Management.

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.