Wyche firm celebrates 90 years

Greenville law office branches out

APRIL 4, 2011 10:18 a.m. (0)

Greenville’s venerable Wyche law firm is taking new directions and expanding into areas undreamed of when Granville Wyche joined the firm in 1923.

Granville is the late father of Tommy Wyche, a managing partner at the firm, who has maintained office hours at 44 E. Camperdown Way since shortly after graduating from the University of Virginia Law School in 1949.

The Wyche firm has become a Greenville institution in the 90 years that the various partners have been practicing law. They did it the old fashioned way with good client service and by hiring the best minds they could find coming out of law school.  Continue reading...

 

The life and trials of William Walter Wilkins

MAY 27, 2011 12:00 p.m. (2)

As a child, Billy Wilkins fell in love with courtroom drama while watching his father try cases at the Greenville County Courthouse.

He made up his mind then to be an attorney and went on to become an iconic figure in state legal circles as 13th Circuit solicitor, chief judge of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and in private practice today.

He is well connected in Republican circles and was Ronald Reagan’s first appointment to the federal court system in the early 1980s.  Continue reading...

 

Need a lawyer? They're out there

Some say South Carolina has more lawyers than jobs, others disagree

JUNE 30, 2011 11:48 a.m. (0)

South Carolina, along with just about every other state, is producing far more lawyers than there are jobs, according to Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. or EMSI, but a spokesman for the Charleston School of Law doesn’t believe that’s so.

EMSI said almost twice as many people passed the 2009 South Carolina bar exam (506) as job openings (262).  That’s not the experience of graduates of the Charleston School of Law, said Andrew Brock, school spokesman.

He said the EMSI data appears to be misleading in that it seems to include only lawyers going to law firms.  Continue reading...

 

Jail Project, case closed

Nonprofit Law in Action advocated for indigent detainees' right to counsel

JULY 27, 2011 1:54 p.m. (0)

Greenville attorney Steve Henry realized in 2002 that some of the Greenville County Detention Center’s overcrowding problem was caused by defendants charged with minor crimes staying in jail too long.

Some detainees spent as long as six months in jail waiting adjudication of charges that carried maximum sentences of 30 days.

Henry and Law In Action, the nonprofit organization he founded, started the Jail Project, a pilot program where volunteers and then paid investigators made daily jail visits and worked to try to gain the early and safe release on bond of those charged with minor crimes. For the past three years Law in Action has advocated for indigent detainees’ right to counsel.  Continue reading...

 

Laws and the New Year

From phone greetings to new holidays, lawmakers will have plenty to talk about in 2012

JANUARY 5, 2012 2:14 p.m. (0)

Drivers would be prohibited from text messaging or talking on cell phones under multiple bills filed in advance of the 2012 South Carolina legislative session.

State Sen. Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson, wants to require applicants for unemployment benefits to pass a drug test before collecting any money and take away benefits for anybody who works part-time.

Sen. Glenn Reese, D-Spartanburg, has proposed “Caylee’s Law,” legislation that would make it a felony to fail to report to law enforcement that a child has gone missing.  Continue reading...

 

Deputy cleared for duty after fatal shooting

Sheriff's department concludes report of May 30 shooting

JUNE 7, 2012 10:15 a.m. (0)

Nine days after fatally shooting a suspect who was allegedly threatening to stab a woman, Master Deputy Steven Epps was returned to full duty by Greenville County Sheriff Steve Loftis on May 30, after an investigation showed that the deputy had “followed policy 100 percent.”

Epps shot David Scott Hampton, 56, five times after Hampton made “stabbing motions” toward the victim while holding her captive in a red Toyota Prius, Loftis said Monday.  Continue reading...