Event Information

Beth has been practicing law since 2001. Her practice focuses on business disputes, in courtroom and arbitration settings, including FINRA. Beth’s clients include publicly traded and private companies and their officers and employees operating in a wide array of industries such as real estate, insurance, energy and utility, restaurant and retail, financial investing, and health care. Beth also represents clients with trust and estate issues, and on appeals, particularly in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. She has handled successful appeals of cases involving issues of first impression and divided authorities. Beth also regularly assists other lawyers in ethics matters. 

Before joining the firm in 2013, Beth served as an adjunct professor in Advanced Legal Writing at the University of South Carolina School of Law and was an associate for five years at a Big Law firm. Beth completed judicial clerkships in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina. She received her law degree from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, where she served as Editor in Chief of the Law Review and was the National Association of Women Lawyers Outstanding Law Graduate. Her undergraduate degree is from Duke University.

 Carmen Harper Thomas is a litigator whose experience includes resolving disputes and regulatory issues for financial services companies, professionals and their firms, and companies with innovative technology or business models.
Ms. Thomas received her JD, cum laude, 2007, from the University of South Carolina School of Law; MPA, 2002, from the University of South Carolina School; BA, 1999, from the University of South Carolina School Honors College.
Ms. Thomas admissions include South Carolina, Supreme Court of United States, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of S.C., U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. District Court, District of S.C.

Professional Activities
-  American Bar Association (Business Law Section, Consumer Financial Services
Committee)
-  Federal and State Trade Practices Subcommittee, Co-Vice Chair (2019-present)
-  Task Force on Small Dollar Lending, Young Lawyer Liaison (2014-2015), Commission on the Future of Legal Services (2015),         Business Law Section
-  Subcommittee on Business Courts, Vice Chair (2012-2014)
-  South Carolina Bar, Consumer Law Section Council, Chair (2020-2021), Chair- Elect (2019-2020), Council (2012-present), Ethics  Advisory Committee (2019- present), House of Delegates (2015-2016)
-  John Belton O'Neall Inn of Court, President (2016-2017), Executive Committee
(2014-2018)
-  Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference, Permanent Member
-  American Bar Foundation, Fellow
-  Defense Research Institute
-  SC Defense Trial Attorneys Association
-  South Carolina Women Lawyers Association
-  Richland County Bar Association, Public Service Committee (2008-2014)

In 2000, Judge Clifton Newman was elected to the South Carolina Circuit Court by the South Carolina General Assembly and he has served continuously since. He has served as the Presiding Judge over the Multi-Week Trial Docket for South Carolina, a specialized docket of complex construction and other multi-week cases. He is a Business Court Judge. He has been appointed by the South Carolina Supreme Court to serve as Presiding Judge and as Special Referee in several complex civil and criminal cases.

Judge Newman is a member of the Chief Justice’s Commission on the Profession, the South Carolina Commission on Judicial Conduct and the South Carolina Circuit Court Advisory Committee. He is a past President of the American College of Business Court Judges and he has served as Co-Chair of the Judges Initiative Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association.

Judge Newman is Chairperson of the South Carolina Civil Rules Committee, a member of the South Carolina Judicial Council, and the John Belton O’Neal Inn of Court where he is a member of the mentoring team.

He recently became an Adjunct Professor at the USC School of Law where he teaches Trial Advocacy.

A native of central Iowa, Cory has called South Carolina home since 2005, when his wife Tina Cundari convinced him to move to Columbia. He has practiced law since 1997 and has been with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough since 2005. He practices in the areas of business litigation, corporate internal investigations, and securities litigation. He co-chairs the firm's White Collar Defense and Government Investigations practice group. Cory is active in the community and has taught a class on Business Torts at the University of South Carolina School of Law since 2014, at the persistent urging of his friend and mentor, Professor Mike Green.
 

Jarrett Coco is a partner at Nelson Mullins in the Columbia office.  He practices in the areas of business litigation, e-discovery and litigation readiness, and records and document management.   Jarrett represents and counsels clients in various discovery-related engagements, including legal holds and data preservation, data collection, early case and risk assessment, document review and production strategy, and discovery motion practice, in a variety of matters including civil litigation, fact investigations, subpoena responses, and government investigations.  Jarrett also counsel clients in document management and information governance strategies and practices.    

• The Class Action Program, which brings middle- and high-school students to the state Supreme Court to hear oral arguments.
• The Case of the Month Program, which provides streaming video of a case argued before the state Supreme Court. Students are allowed to review the briefs submitted for the case and watch the proceedings.
• South Carolina Supreme Court Institute, which is held for middle- and high-school social-studies teachers to teach them how to bring law to life for their students.

Practice Areas

Tractor-Trailer Accidents

Wrongful Death

Business Litigation

Securities Litigation

Legal Malpractice

Peter Protopapas is recognized by a number of professional rating services as being among the region’s top legal professionals. He has received the designation of Top-Rated Professional Liability Attorneys in Columbia, South Carolina, and has been named Legal Elite by Columbia Business Monthly in the area of Business Litigation Law.

Educational Background

University of Massachusetts (B.A., 1992)

University of Florida (M.A., 1994)

University of South Carolina School of Law (J.D., 2000)

Biography

Peter Protopapas came to South Carolina to attend law school. Raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Peter grew up in a large family whose roots span two continents. After college, Peter’s strong interests in business and law spurred him on to earn both a Master of Arts and a J.D. in law. Because of his training, Peter handles a wide variety of complex business and professional malpractice cases throughout South Carolina. He frequently litigates matters involving business contract disputes, securities and stock losses, and class actions Known as a tough negotiator and court room advocate, Peter also spends a great deal of his practice representing clients who have suffered catastrophic personal injury in automobile and trucking accidents. Peter, his wife and children live in Columbia

·         Peter has volunteered his time to community activities and served as a Board Member for South Carolina Legal Services, a non-profit organization which assists South Carolinians.

·         Peter is active in legal groups such as the South Carolina Bar Association, the John Belton O’Neal Inn of Court, and the South Carolina Association of Justice.

·         He is a member of the South Carolina Bar and qualified to practices in the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina and United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Roger M. Young, Sr. the son of the late Rev. James W. Young and Joyce L. Young. He grew up in North Charleston, and in 1980 graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the Baptist College at Charleston, which is now known as Charleston Southern University. He graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1983 with the degree of Juris Doctor, and with the degree of Master of Judicial Studies from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2000.

While in private practice, Judge Young also served as a Municipal Judge for the City of North Charleston from 1988-90. He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1990 and served two terms. He was Master-in-Equity for Charleston County from 1996 until July 1, 2003, when he became a Circuit Court Judge for the 9^th Judicial Circuit of South Carolina. He has also served concurrently as a Business Court Judge for SC since it was created in 2007 and is Chief Administrative Judge of the South Carolina Business Court.

He was President of the South Carolina Circuit Court Judges Association from 2012-14.