South Carolina Lawyers Weekly

Aug 19, 2024

Client-centric payment options boost firm’s bottom line

Legal firms can increase profitability by offering flexible payment options and utilizing benchmark data to refine billing processes, leading to faster and higher collection rates.

Jun 12, 2024

Help new associates launch careers with confidence

By Jay Sullivan Law firms are organic entities. They grow, they evolve, they expand their capabilities, and they incorporate and absorb new people. All firms experience growing pains when someone […]

Oct 30, 2023

It’s all business, especially the busyness

By Spencer Farris I have been self-employed — or as I call it, unemployed with overhead — for a couple of decades. Unless it was one of the days I […]

Jan 9, 2023

GROWTH SPURT: More law firms are opening up shop in the Carolinas — here’s why

Alan Woodlief, interim dean, and professor of law at Elon University School of Law, has seen the growth of the legal industry in the Carolinas firsthand. The reason behind the […]

Apr 4, 2014

Smaller support staffs mean firms do more with less

Evolving technology and lessons learned in the wake of the Great Recession have conspired to change the model of law firm staffing. Traditionally, every lawyer at a firm had his […]

Sep 13, 2013

Nonlawyers now a fixture in law firm management

The country is coming out of one of the worst recessions in decades. In addition to dealing with a sea change in the legal profession, many firms are positioning themselves for a healthy future. How? By letting lawyers be lawyers and hiring business experts to operate the business side of the enterprise.

Apr 29, 2011

Sign might remain for awhile, but internal changes underway for Buist

As the longtime Charleston firm of Buist Moore Smythe McGee readied for its May 2 debut as Womble Carlyle's newest office, one detail seemed to escape managing partners at both firms last week. Would the Womble Carlyle sign be up on the former Buist Moore offices on this first Monday morning after the North Carolina giant completed its April 30 acquisition?

Apr 27, 2011

Smith Moore opens Charleston office, takes on established lawyers

Two weeks after North Carolina giant Womble Carlyle announced its acquisition of a Charleston firm, the regional law firm of Smith Moore Leatherwood also has opened an office in the port city. The move expands the firm's footprint in the Southeast and positions it for growth in an area of economic vitality, Smith Moore Leatherwood chairman Rob Marcus told Lawyers Weekly. "Charleston is becoming a [...]

Apr 18, 2011

Coach’s Corner: What makes a law firm a good place to work?

Every law firm is, or should be, a team, with lawyers, staff and support personnel committed to a team effort for providing the best possible service and work product for the benefit of clients. Involving everyone in the office so that they feel a sense of inclusiveness, understanding their roles and looking forward to exercising them, creates a better and more successful firm. At too many law fir[...]

Apr 15, 2011

90-year-old Greenville firm enters ‘new era’ with new name

Even as it celebrated 90 years of service to clients inside and outside the Palmetto State, one of South Carolina's largest law firms changed its name in what its executive chairman called a new era in its history. Greenville-based Wyche Burgess Freeman & Parham announced its reincarnation as Wyche P.A. at an April 12 anniversary party at the firm's offices next to downtown Greenville's Falls [...]

Apr 13, 2011

NC giant Womble Carlyle to take on Charleston’s Buist Moore

North Carolina powerhouse Womble Carlyle is entering the Charleston market by acquiring the city's largest law firm. In a merger fueled by the prospect of rapid economic growth in the Charleston area, North Carolina's largest law firm is joining forces with Buist Moore Smythe McGee. They will complete the deal on April 30, partners at both firms told Lawyers Weekly. "We're just very excited. We th[...]

Feb 4, 2011

Experts for hire: Womble Carlyle’s litigation support team is not just in-house

By SYLVIA ADCOCK, Staff Writer [email protected] When Cris Windham arrived at Womble Carlyle 25 years ago, he got involved in the firm’s tobacco litigation and quickly began to see the […]