I am a native of Laurens, South Carolina. After high school, I attended Clemson University for my undergraduate education where I earned my bachelor's degree, with honors, in Political Science.   After briefly working as a paralegal, I continued my education at the Charleston School of Law.  While earning my Juris Doctor, I was awarded top honors in trial advocacy.  In addition to my academic work, I clerked at Grimball & Cabaniss, LLC, and worked as a research assistant, aiding in the preparation of Margaret Lawton and Miller Shealy's book, South Carolina Crimes: Elements and Defenses.

 Since my admission to the Bar, I have spent more than six years representing businesses and individuals in both litigation and transactional matters. In March 2010, I opened my own law firm, where I have been responsible for shepherding my clients' cases from start to finish  - researching and preparing for depositions, motions, and trials, and appearing on behalf of clients in court.   In addition to my litigation experience, I also have extensive corporate transactional expereince - drafting, reviewing, and negotiating contracts, incorporating and merging business entities, giving guidance on employee hiring and termination, and zealously protecting their intellectual property and other business interests. The businesses I have represented range from rapidly growing technology start-ups to the US subsidiary of a multi-national corporation.  In these duties, I worked to creatively respond to clients’ needs and protect their interests, while providing sound guidance and attempting to further their goals and priorities.

My experience as a solo practitioner has also required me to manage dual roles as attorney for my clients and administrator of my firm. Through both of these roles, I learned to work efficiently, negotiate effectively, build trust, and manage the needs of my staff and clients. Although I have spent the majority of my legal career in my own firm, in August 2015 I was asked to join the Peck Law Firm, LLC, as an associate attorney practicing domestic litigation.  There, I continued to develop skills as a litigator, building positive professional relationships and working together with my colleagues as a team.

While I am proud of my the success achieved for my clients at the Peck Firm, I soon realized that my strengths and interests as a lawyer were not limited to domestic litigation.  I also felt the need to be near and support my family in Upstate, South Carolina - the area where I was born and raised.  So, I returned to the Upstate, and I have enjoyed putting down roots of my own, even as I continue to represent clients who have trusted my guidance for years. 

In addition to work activities, I have sought to use my experience to benefit our state and the legal community: offering my professional services to a number of community organizations, including South Carolina Legal Services (a federally funded program which helps provide attorneys for those in poverty); serving as a mentor for the Charleston County Bar Attorney-Student Mentor Program; advising and speaking to student groups; and serving as a judge for local and national moot court competitions.

I have also been honored to hold a number of leadership positions. Until relocating to the Upstate, I was an active member of Second Presbyterian Church of Charleston, SC, where I was ordained as a Ruling Elder and served on the Church Session, leading the congregation's Music & Worship Committee.  

In my free time (what little there is of it), I enjoy Clemson athletics, spending time on our family farm, and playing with my Welsh Corgi, "Ellie."