Christopher B. "Chris" Staubes III

I am an attorney in Smith Debnam Narron Drake Saintsing & Myers, LLP Charleston office, where I focus my practice on bankruptcy and creditors’ rights. If there’s one word you can use to describe my approach to developing legal strategies it would have to be pragmatic. My clients benefit from a real-world understanding of financial issues backed by logical plans for resolving tough and complex fiscal situations. With a practice that spans nearly three decades, I have extensive ...

Jeremy Cook is a shareholder and public finance attorney in Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd's Charleston office. Jeremy serves as co-leader of the Public Finance practice group and is the administrative shareholder for the Charleston office. He regularly serves as bond counsel, disclosure counsel and underwriter's counsel in connection with bond issues for cities, counties, state entities and school districts across South Carolina.

A veteran of the courtroom, Jodi Westbrook Flowers seeks to protect the health, safety and rights of consumers, families, investors, workers, and victims of crime and terrorism. Jodi has litigated a wide range of cases involving tobacco, asbestos, lead pigment, aviation disasters, consumer fraud, cybersecurity and product defects, as well as terrorist financing and human rights violations. Jodi also represents public entities seeking to hold opioid manufacturers and distributors accountable f...

Following in the footsteps of his father, firm founder Reese Joye, Mark Joye is now head of the litigation department and represents those who have been injured by defective products, in car crashes, and in tractor-trailer collisions. In 1997, Mark represented the parents of Sergio Jimenez, who was ejected from the back of a Chrysler minivan in an accident and killed. The case resulted in a $262.5 million verdict for the family and is one of the largest personal injury verdicts in South Carol...

David Swanson handles large and small commercial and residential property matters at Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, representing owners, developers and financial institutions as well as many sellers and buyers of plantation properties in coastal South Carolina. David represents financial institutions and other lenders in all aspects of commercial loan transactions, including the drafting of loan documents and due diligence review of all information relevant to the borrower and guarantors.

Melissa is a member of Butler Snow’s Labor and Employment group, with experience in a wide range of industries. Melissa regularly counsels clients on compliance issues and represents employers before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission, and in both state and federal court against lawsuits arising under Title VII, ADA, ADEA, FMLA, and the FLSA.

Motley Rice co-founder Joe Rice is recognized as a skillful and innovative negotiator of complex litigation settlements, having served as the lead negotiator in some of the largest civil actions our courts have seen in the last 35 years. In 2023, his law school alma mater renamed the school the USC Joseph F. Rice School of Law. Corporate Legal Times reported that defense counsel and legal scholars described Joe as one of the nation's “five most feared and respected plaintiffs’ law...

Trudy Robertson is a member of the Management Committee and is the co-managing member of the Charleston office and handles wide-ranging business, governmental, fiduciary, banking, healthcare, and products liability and property matters. Her active business and commercial litigation practice emphasizes corporate, banking, healthcare, municipal, regulatory, and litigation issues. Trudy frequently counsels individuals, businesses, nonprofit organizations, charitable organizations, municipalities...

Lesley Firestone advises clients on a wide range of environmental matters, including permitting, regulatory compliance, and transactional support for the acquisition and development of contaminated properties. She also provides strategic counsel on environmental liability considerations in business transactions. Lesley regularly represents clients before the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services in matters involving Brownfield Agreements, underground storage tanks, solid waste r...

Gregory A. Lofstead is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Plaintiffs and Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs. Gregory A., who practices law in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, has been recognized since 2018. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Gregory A. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.