Event Information

EDUCATION:

• BS degree in Accounting from the University of West Florida, Pensacola, Florida, in May 1984. Additional Master Level accounting courses taken.

• Financial Planner Program at Queens College (now Queens University), Charlotte, North Carolina in July 1998. This was a twenty-month master’s program that had to be successfully completed in order to be eligible to sit for the two-day national examination for certification.

CERTIFICATIONS:

• I am a Certified Financial Planner® certificant in good standing – Certificate #0667760. CFP® certificants must complete at least thirty hours of continuing professional education every two years, including a two-hour program on CFP Board’s Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility and/or Financial Planning Practice Standards. My Continuing Professional Education emphases are: taxation, financial assets, employee benefits, deferred compensation plans for key executives and retirement assets.

• I am a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst™ in good standing. CDFA™ professionals must develop their theoretical and practical understanding and knowledge of the financial aspects of divorce by completing a comprehensive course of study approved by the Institute of Divorce Financial Analysts. Practitioners must pass a four part Certification Examination that tests their knowledge and understanding of the financial aspects of divorce.

CDFA™ practitioners, once certified, are required to maintain technical competence and fulfill ethical obligations. Every two years, as a Certified

Divorce Financial Analyst™, I must complete a minimum of fifteen hours of continuing education, ten of which are specifically related to the field of divorce. My Continuing Professional Education emphases are taxation, financial assets, employee benefits, deferred compensation, and retirement assets.

• I tested for and received certification as a Registered Tax Return Preparer with the IRS.

• Certifications and affiliations: Certified Divorce Financial Analyst™, Certified Financial Planner®, Associate Member - Association of Certified Fraud Examiners - 2022/2023, Mecklenburg County Collaborative Family Law Group - Financial Member, Internal Revenue Tax Professional/Preparer Tax Identification Number P01444651, and Westlaw Round Table Group (Expert Witness referral).

• I have been the sole proprietor of Divorce Financial Planning since 1999. The scope of my practice addresses the financial issues that arise from separation and/or divorce.

Ashby Jones is a graduate of Presbyterian College and the University of South Carolina School of Law.  She is a founding member of the firm Kinard and Jones, LLC in Lexington. Ashby's focus is domestic litigation, though she has practiced extensively in Circuit Court and is licensed to practice in the United States District Court and the United States Supreme Court.  Ashby is one of few South Carolina domestic practitioners admitted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, generally recognized by judges and attorneys as preeminent family law practitioners with a high level of knowledge, skill and integrity.  Ashby is Board Certified in the area of Family Law by the National Board of Trial Advocates and in 2022 was inducted into the charter chapter of the South Carolina Family Law Inn of Court as a Master.   She is the Family Law Section chair of the South Carolina Association for Justice.  Ashby holds an AV Preeminent peer-review rating from Martindale-Hubbell. She has contributed to the SCAJ journal, The Bulletin, and the national magazine Family Lawyer.  She was appointed by the Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court as a Lawyer-Neutral Member of the Commission on Alternative Dispute Resolution in 2022 and sits on the Advisory  Board for the Lexington District One Center for Law and Global Policy Development. She speaks regularly at continuing legal education seminars. Ashby has been named one of the Legal Elite of the Midlands by Columbia Business Monthly and has been a Super Lawyers Selectee, both on numerous occasions. She has been named as one of the Best Lawyers in America on three occasions.  She is a 2022 recipient of the University of South Carolina Compleat Lawyer Award, which recognizes alumni for their outstanding civic and professional accomplishments, significant contributions to the legal profession, and those who exemplify the highest standards of professional competence, ethics and integrity.  In April of 2023, Ashby will be named one of the Top 25 Lawyers in South Carolina by Super Lawyers. 

Brendan Barth was born and raised in Florence, South Carolina. He attended Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Economics in 2006.
Brendan attended the Charleston School of Law and graduated magna cum laude in 2009. While in law school, he served as an Articles Editor for the Charleston Law Review.
Upon his graduation from law school, Brendan accepted a Federal Clerkship with the Honorable R. Bryan Harwell, United States District Judge, in Florence, South Carolina. He clerked for Judge Harwell from October of 2009 until April of 2012.
Since May of 2012, Brendan has practiced extensively in the trial courts of South Carolina. Brendan focuses his practice on Family Law, Personal Injury, and Criminal Defense, including both State and Federal offenses.
 

Britton Hawk is a partner in the firm of Hawk and Hawk. She focuses her practice on family law, including separation, divorce, custody, visitation, support. and enforcement issues. Britton has been recognized as "Legal Elite" in the field of family law by Charleston Business Magazine. Britton has served on the board of directors for the Charleston Animal Society and the Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Learning Center, is a former member of the Parent Advisory Council for the Children's Museum of the Lowcountry, and was a member of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Charleston Class of 2010. She currently serves on the board of the Charleston Cooperative Family Law Association. Britton is a 2007 graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law, where she was inducted into the Order of the Wig and Robe, an honorary society recognizing academic achievement. and was a member of the Trial Advocacy Bar. Britton graduated with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003. 

Chris received his BA from Furman University and his Master of Accountancy from the University of South Carolina. His practice involves forensic accounting and business valuation. Within forensic accounting, Chris primarily works on family law matters but has also been involved in damage calculations and other civil matters. He performs business valuations for several purposes including, but not limited to; litigation, estate & gift tax, and transactions on both the buy and sell side. Chris is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Management Accountant (CMA), Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA), and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE). 

Michael is a native of Lexington, SC and a graduate of the University of South Carolina.  Michael served in the U.S. Navy for twenty years and was blessed to retire in Charleston, SC.  After retiring in 2016, Michael founded the Daniel Island Barbershop with his business partner, and he started his financial planning practice with Northwestern Mutual.  He is married to Elizabeth, and they have two boys, Elliot and Nathaniel.   

Mr. James T. McLaren maintains a statewide family law practice emphasizing complex marital litigation in Columbia, South Carolina.  He is a partner in the law firm of McLaren & Lee.  He has served the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers in various capacities since becoming a Fellow, including National President in 2015.  He received the AAML Fellow of the Year from the Academy in 2007 and the AAML Professionalism Award in 2020.  He serves on various Academy Committees.  He has served on the Board of the AAML Foundation, where he currently serves on the Advisory Board.  For the South Carolina Chapter of the Academy, he has served as President and National Delegate.  He is a Diplomate of the American College of Family Trial Lawyers and currently serves on the Executive Committee.  He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers. He is currently the South Carolina Chapter President for the International Network of Boutique Law Firms.  He currently serves on the South Carolina Bar Family Law Council and was appointed to the President’s Task Force on Alimony.  Mr. McLaren has been named in the Best Lawyers in America, Family Law Designation, since 1993, received an “AV” designation from Martindale Hubbell since 1996, and has been named in the South Carolina Super Lawyers publication since 2008. He is a contributing author to the South Carolina Equitable Apportionment Act (§20-7-741, et. seq., S.C. Code of Laws) and the South Carolina Alimony Statute (§20-3-130, South Carolina Code of Laws). Mr. McLaren received his undergraduate degree (1973) from the University of South Carolina and Juris Doctorate degree (1976) from the University of South Carolina School of Law.  He was admitted to practice in 1976 and has maintained a private practice in Columbia, South Carolina since that time.  He is also admitted to practice in the U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit, U.S. District Court, South Carolina District, and the U.S. Supreme Court.  He is a frequent speaker on various family law topics for the South Carolina Bar, American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, American Bar Association, South Carolina Association for Justice and Mandatory Judicial and Continuing Legal Education Seminars. He has been a faculty member of the ABA/NITA Family Law Trial Advocacy Institute, offered annually in Boulder, Colorado.   

Jessica Christophillis is a partner at Christophillis & Gallivan in Greenville, South Carolina. Jessica focuses her practice predominately on divorce cases involving high net worth estates, alimony issues, business valuation issues, and other complex equitable division cases.  Jessica is a graduate of the University of South Carolina where she earned her J.D. and B.S. in accounting. Jessica also attended Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, Illinois where she earned her L.L.M. in taxation.
Prior to starting her firm, Jessica worked at PWC where she focused on tax compliance and planning for individuals, LLCs, partnerships, and corporations.
Jessica is a Certified Family Court Mediator. She is also a graduate of the Houston Family Law Trial Institute and has been named as Greenville Business Magazine's Legal Elite of the Upstate in Family Law for the past 5 years. Jessica is the author of the article "What to Expect When Expecting Marital Litigation: Protecting Assets with Beneficiary Interest in a Divorce or Separate Support and Maintenance Action" published in the SC Lawyer in July 2017.
Jessica currently serves on the Upstate Mediation Board and Artisphere board both in Greenville, SC. Jessica and her husband Cory live in Greenville with their six-year-old twin boys.
 

Jonathan W. Lounsberry joined KD Trial Lawyers in 2021 and is a member of the firm’s family law team. As a Fellow in the International Academy of Family Lawyers and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, his has extensive experience in complex family court litigation and international family law issues, with a particular focus on international child abduction and cross-border custody issues pursuant to the 1980 Hague Convention. 

Jonathan received a B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science from the University of South Carolina (2006) and his J.D. from the Charleston School of Law (2009). He is admitted to practice in South Carolina, the District of South Carolina, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He has authored and co-authored articles regarding the practice of family law and the use of technology in litigation for the South Carolina Lawyer, the ABA Section of Family Law’s Family Advocate, the ABA Section of Litigation’s Family Law Litigation Newsletter, and the International Academy of Family Lawyers’ Online News.  Jonathan is also the Principal Editor of the South Carolina Children’s Law Resource Manual (2014) and Co-Author of Family Law Essentials: A Primer for Private Practice Before the Family Court in South Carolina (2018), both publications of the SC Bar CLE Division.

Leslie grew up in Charleston and attended the College of Charleston. She graduated in 1993 with a B.A. in History. She opened her practice in 2009. Her focus is primarily on domestic cases, including uncontested divorces, custody actions, child support modifications, Rules to Show Cause, and other contested matters in Family Court, and she also handles criminal defense cases, including juvenile delinquency cases, misdemeanors, and felonies in State Court as well as defending Federal Criminal charges.

Leslie attended the University of South Carolina School of Law and graduated in 1998. While in law school, she was a member of the Moot Court Bar and participated in the ABA Appellate Advocacy Competition. She was also the Associate Justice of Administration. She was a member of the Environmental Law Journal as well as Phi Delta Phi (a legal fraternity) and was social chairman for Phi Delta Phi during her third year of law school.

She began her career at the Charleston County Public Defender’s Office in Family Court, defending juveniles accused of crimes. She then moved to General Sessions Court, defending adults accused of crimes. She participated in a vast number of jury trials while employed at the Public Defender’s Office, as both first and second chair. Her experience includes charges that range the gamut from handling tickets in Magistrate’s Court to defending murder cases in General Sessions. 

From the Public Defender’s Office, she began working in 2002 for Suggs & Kelly Lawyers, which later became the Mike Kelly Law Group. She managed the Myrtle Beach office of the Columbia based Plaintiff’s focused law firm. Her practice areas included Social Security Disability, Civil Litigation, Workers’ Compensation, and Criminal Defense.

She is admitted to practice in South Carolina State Court, Federal District Court, and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. She currently handles Family Law Cases, Post-Conviction Relief (PCR) cases, Criminal Defense in Family Court, General Sessions, and in Federal District Court, as well as doing criminal appeals in State Court and in the Fourth Circuit. 

She has attended the criminal trial advocacy college, which is a 2 weeklong, intensive seminar focused on trial skills in criminal court. She has also attended a civil trial advocacy college, which focuses on trial skills in the civil arena.

She is currently serving as a member of the Ninth Circuit Public Defender Selection Committee and serve as a Board Member for Palmetto Scholars Academy. 

Mrs. Bluestein grew up in Charleston. She graduated with a BA in English from the College of Charleston, received a Master of Public Administration degree from USC, and a JD from the USC School of Law. She is licensed in LA and SC, and worked as an Assistant District Attorney in New Orleans before moving home to Charleston. She has practiced Family Law and mediation in Charleston since 1998. Mrs. Bluestein is the former President of the SC Women Lawyers' Association, the former President of the Charleston County Bar Association, and the current Charleston County Family Court Liaison Chair. She is also the current statewide Chair of the Resolution ofFee Disputes Board through the SC Bar Association. Mrs. Bluestein has been on the Boards of a number of charitable organizations, and is currently a Board member of the Foot Light Players and the Ladies' Benevolent Association; she is a Master of the Family Law Inn of Court and, together with her husband, is an active member of numerous collector car clubs.

Peter Tiffany is a managing partner of the firm Bradshaw, Gordon & Clinkscales, LLC in Greenville, SC. His areas of practice are: financial analysis, management consulting, business valuation, and entity and individual taxes. He earned a B.S. in business administration with an accounting concentration from the University of South Carolina at Aiken in 1994, graduating magna cum laude. He earned his Master of Accountancy from the University of South Carolina in 1995. He obtained his Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation in 1997, Accreditation in Business Valuation (ABV) in 2003 and Certification in Financial Forensics (CFF) in 2008. Pete is a member of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the South Carolina Association of CPAs (SCACPA).

Ms. West has practiced solely in the South Carolina Family Court since 2003. Prior to dedicating her practice to family law, she was a general practitioner handling injury and workers’ compensation matters.

Ms. West holds a law degree from the University of Mississippi (2000) and an undergraduate degree from Lander University (1997).   

She is a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.  She serves as a Certified Family Court mediator.  Ms. West is a member of the Lexington County Bar Association (President, 2014), American Bar Association, Family Law Section, South Carolina Association for Justice and the South Carolina Women Lawyers Association.

Published Opinions:

McComb v. Conard, 394 S.C. 416, 715 S.E.2d 662 (Ct. App. 2011) (Trial Counsel)

Sanderson v. Sanderson, 391 S.C. 249, 705 S.E. 2d 65 (Ct. App. 2010) (Appellate Counsel)

Rebecca hails from Hemingway, SC. She graduated from Converse College in 2004 with a double Bachelor’s in Business Finance and Psychology. She received her JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2007 where she was a Johnson Legal Scholar. Rebecca is a 2011 Graduate of the Houston Family Law Trial Institute.

After law school, she worked as an associate for Luce, Moore, and Franklin in the area of residential real estate and foreclosure law. She practiced with Hon. Monet Pincus of Pincus Family Law until her election to the Family Court Bench. She then joined the Law Offices of Lester & Hendrix, LLC as an associate. She opened her own firm, Creel Family Law, LLC in 2018, limiting her practice exclusively to complex marital and other domestic litigation. She also serves as a Guardian ad Litem and is a certified Family Court Mediator.

Rebecca was voted to “The State’s Best” in the area of Family Law in 2023. She has also been awarded the Columbia Business Monthly Legal Elite of the Midlands award for the past nine consecutive years in the area of Family Law. She was also named as Legal Elite in Mediation for 2023. Rebecca was honored by SC Supreme Court’s Commission on the Profession as the G. Dewey Oxner Jr., Mentor of the Year. She is a member of the SC Supreme Court’s Pro Bono Honor Roll for her charitable service to the community. Rebecca is regularly asked to speak on family law topics at the SC Bar Convention, The Family Court Bench/Bar, Family Law Essentials, the National Business Institute, and the SCAJ Annual Conventions just to name a few.

She volunteers her time to assist in drafting publications such as the Ask-A-Lawyer Reference Manual; Law School for Non-Lawyers; the South Carolina Paralegal Survival Guide; and proudly served on the editorial board of the 5^th Edition of Marital Litigation in South Carolina Substantive Law. Rebecca was named to the South Carolina Bar Family Law Council in 2022.

Rebecca is very active in her community, outside of the practice of law. She serves as the board member at large for the Harmony School. She is a commissioner for the City of Forest Acres Municipal Election Commission. She Dedicates time to volunteer with SCCADVSA, Pruitt Health Hospice, and the Humane Society.

Bob Stevens has been practicing in the family courts for more than 40 years. His practice is exclusively in the area of matrimonial law and family law. Since receiving his J.D. from Syracuse University, Bob has been admitted to both the South Carolina and the New York State Bars. Bob has been a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers since 1993, served as President of the South Carolina Chapter 2016 - 2018 and is currently the South Carolina Delegate to the National Board of Governors. Bob is certified as both a mediator and arbitrator by the American Academy of Matrimonial Attorneys.