Government Law Section
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
D. Michael Henthorne
Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart, PC
Columbia, SC
D. Michael Henthorne focuses his practice on representing management in employment litigation. A specialist in employment and labor law as certified by the South Carolina Supreme Court, Michael has litigated matters involving:
· Title VII
· The Americans with Disabilities Act
· The Family and Medical Leave Act
· The Fair Labor Standards Act
· The Age Discrimination in Employment Act
· Wage and hour disputes
· Employment contracts
· Employment torts
· Covenants not to compete, trade secrets and unfair competition matters
Michael has significant trial experience and has successfully appeared before both the South Carolina Court of Appeals and the South Carolina Supreme Court. He also appears regularly in federal and state courts in South Carolina and before various regulatory and administrative tribunals, such as:
· The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
· The Department of Labor
· The National Labor Relations Board
· The South Carolina Human Affairs Commission
· The South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation
· The South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce
Michael routinely works with in-house corporate counsel and insurers to resolve employment litigation and appellate matters. He was previously admitted pro hac vice in Clark County Nevada where he settled an employment dispute on behalf of a national sporting goods distributor, and in the Western District of Tennessee where he resolved a whistleblower action for a leading aluminum rolled products company. In addition to his work in the employment law arena, he served as lead trial counsel in an intellectual property dispute involving a Fortune 50 retailer; in the defense of a $500,000 predatory lending claim that resulted in a jury verdict for a national mortgage lender; and in the settlement of a seven-figure negligence claim for a South Carolina healthcare provider prior to trial.
Jeremy L. Cook
(Co-Course Planner)
Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, PA
Charleston, SC
Jeremy Cook serves as co-leader of the Firm’s Government Utilities and Nonprofits Industry Team and is the administrative partner for the Firm’s Charleston office. He handles general obligation and revenue bond transactions for municipalities, counties, special purpose districts, school districts, hospitals' and other nonprofit organizations, and state entities.
Mr. Cook’s clients have included the Medical University of South Carolina, The Citadel, the City of Charleston, Charleston Water System, Catholic Diocese of Charleston, The Medical Society of South Carolina, and the South Carolina Jobs-Economic Development Authority (JEDA). Mr. Cook has also served as bond and underwriters’ counsel on bond issues for the largest hospital systems in South Carolina.
As counsel to underwriters and banks, he has guided many types of revenue bond transactions, including hospitality tax issues, limited obligation issues, water and sewer issues, improvement district issues, parking facilities issues and certificates of participation.
As counsel to issuers of conduit bonds, Mr. Cook has represented governmental entities on both the state and local level.
He also represents counties and corporations in connection with Fee-In-Lieu of Taxes transactions and other economic-incentive matters for companies that have invested billions of dollars in South Carolina.
Mr. Cook is also a frequent author, speaker and CLE coordinator on public finance, government and economic development matters in South Carolina.
Lisa R. Claxton
(Co-Course Planner)
Littler Mendelson, PC
Kansas City, MO
Lisa Claxton is an attorney with Litter Mendelson where she represents management in labor and employment matters. Prior to joining Littler in May of this year she was the County Attorney for Spartanburg County. She graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1994 where she was a member of the Wig and Robe. She received her LL.M. in Labor Law from Georgetown University Law Center, with distinction, in 1995.
M. Kent Lesesne
South Carolina Association of Counties
Columbia, SC
Kent Lesesne is a senior staff attorney with the South Carolina Association of Counties and works as a legislative liaison on behalf of the counties before the General Assembly. He is a 1989 graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law. Prior to his employment with the Association of Counties, he worked several years as a litigation attorney for the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. He has also worked for Palmetto Legal Services and has been in private practice.
Mark W. Tollison
Greenville County Attorney's Office
Greenville, SC
Mark Tollison is the Greenville County Attorney. Mark has served as an attorney with the County for the past 17 years. Mark holds a degree in Economics from Clemson University; a Master’s in City Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and his law degree from the University of South Carolina.
Mark has worked at the Association of Counties in Columbia as a Senior Attorney and lobbyist. He is a former Part-Time Lecturer on Land Use Law for Clemson’s Planning and Landscape Architecture Department. Mark is also a Past-President of the South Carolina Association of County Attorneys.
Mayor Knox H. White
Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, PA
Greenville, SC
A native of Greenville, and a graduate of Christ Church Episcopal School, Greenville High School, Wake Forest University and the University of South Carolina Law School. Knox White is a partner in the law firm of Haynsworth, Sinkler & Boyd, where he heads the firm’s immigration and customs practices.
Knox White has served as Mayor of Greenville since December 1995. As Mayor, he has the goal of making the city of Greenville the most beautiful and livable city in America. He has emphasized neighborhood revitalization, economic development, and transformational projects for downtown.
Under the mayor’s leadership, the City maintains a "Triple A" (AAA) bond rating and enjoys a reputation for solving problems on an innovative and bipartisan basis.
He is married to Marsha P. White and they have two children.
Michael S. Pitts
City of Greenville
Greenville, SC
Mike Pitts is a native of Charlotte, North Carolina. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1992 and a JD from the University of South Carolina in 1996.
Mike was in private practice where he focused primarily on litigating commercial and employment disputes up until 2009. At that time, his law firm was retained to perform the County Attorney work for Anderson County, South Carolina, a position he held until he became the City Attorney for Greenville in 2014.
Mike is married to Alison and they have three sons.
Nicole S. Ewing
Nexsen Pruet, LLC
Charleston, SC
I bring a broad base of government experience to matters involving real estate law. I have a strong understanding of land use and zoning concerns, and am well versed in researching, analyzing, and drafting documentation to support transactions.
With a background that includes more than 13 years in the public sector, I am particularly experienced in providing counsel to government entities and have a proven ability to effectively analyze statutes, ordinances, case law, and factual data to achieve favorable outcomes.
In my most recent position as lead attorney for Berkeley County Government – the governing authority for the 35 fastest growing county in the United States – I handled a number of legal matters to support the vitality and continued economic progress of the region.
I led the effort to create an assessment district consisting of multiple developers to fund transportation infrastructure; drafted ordinances and referenda for a transportation sales tax program and Sunday sales of alcohol; negotiated multiple development and fee-in-lieu of tax agreements; and supervised condemnation procedures for transportation and airport
Projects. I also coordinated litigation matters with outside counsel and the Insurance Reserve Fund and prosecuted several local ordinances.
I am a graduate of Leadership Berkeley, a 10-month program of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce designed to cultivate the next generation of community and business leaders. In 2010, I was named among the top “Forty under 40” by the Charleston Regional Business Journal.
Outside of my practice, I am deeply committed to supporting the legal profession and have served as an adjunct legal writing professor at the Charleston School of Law. I’ve presented a number of continuing legal education seminars for organizations such as the South Carolina Bar
Government Law Section and the South Carolina Institute of Government. I’m actively involved in a wide range of professional associations and am the Immediate Past President of the South Carolina Association of County Attorneys.
R. Michael Ethridge
Carlock Copeland & Stair, LLP
Charleston, SC
Mike Ethridge is a partner with the firm of Carlock, Copeland and Stair, where he has maintained an active litigation practice for 27 years. Over the course of that time, Mike has tried numerous cases to verdict in both Georgia and South Carolina. He serves on his firm's Executive Management Committee, and he is the head of his firm's Insurance Coverage practice group. Mike is an AV rated attorney who has been selected to be included in Best Lawyers in America for the last few years and was selected in 2014 as Best Lawyers' Lawyer of the Year for construction litigation.
Mike is also the chair of the South Carolina State Bar's Task Force on Attorney Wellness and the publisher of the legal blog, Lawyers in Search of Soul. Mike entered law school after graduating from seminary and serving briefly in the ministry. Throughout his legal career Mike has attempted to explore ways lawyers can make sense of their lives while working in a profession that can be, in equal measures, difficult and demanding.
Taylor M. Smith IV
Harrison & Radeker, P.A.
Columbia, SC
Taylor Smith concentrates his practice in civil litigation, with a particular emphasis on media and internet speech law, freedom of speech, constitutional/civil rights, freedom of information, appeals, false arrest cases, and criminal defense. Taylor currently is an attorney for The South Carolina Press Association and its 106 member newspapers.
Taylor’s work has also included representing clients in criminal defense matters, freedom of information cases, defamation (slander and libel) cases, mortgage foreclosure cases (representing debtors and homeowners as well as creditors and lenders), debt collection matters (representing both creditors and debtors), consumer protection cases, and real estate litigation such as quiet title and partition actions.
Taylor was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in May 2014. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. During pursuit of his undergraduate degree, Taylor wrote for several news publications including, The Gamecock student newspaper and The State newspaper. After graduating Taylor was a business reporter for the Greenville Journal in Greenville, South Carolina. He returned to Columbia to attend the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2010. During law school, Taylor assisted Harrison & Radeker with Occupy Columbia’s lawsuit against state government and became a law clerk of the firm.
After his admission to the practice of law, Taylor became an associate with Harrison &Radeker, P.A. in 2014. He is admitted to practice in the State of South Carolina and before the United States District Court of South Carolina.
Tushar V. Chikhliker
Nexsen Pruet, LLC
Columbia, SC
As head of Nexsen Pruet’s economic development group and a key member of the its public finance group, Tushar Chikhliker works to negotiate and implement financial transactions aimed at sparking new success, or bolstering established success, for his clients in the South Carolina communities where they choose to invest.
Through his work in economic development, Tushar has represented a diverse group of companies, both domestic and international, in connection with numerous economic development projects throughout every region of South Carolina, including some of the largest economic development projects in the State’s history.
Tushar has represented companies across a wide array of industries including heavy and light manufacturing, pharmaceutical and life sciences, warehouse and distribution, research and development, alternative energy, and real estate development. Tushar’s representation of his clients regularly extends to a myriad of incentive arrangements including:
Tushar has also assisted with the drafting of South Carolina legislation providing for new economic development incentives or modifications to those already existing in advancement of his clients’ interests. He has also counseled clients in working through South Carolina Freedom of Information Act issues affecting economic development projects.
In addition to his work in economic development, Tushar has also represented issuers, borrowers, underwriters and other deal participants in negotiating and implementing multiple financing vehicles, including revenue bonds financings and New Markets Tax Credit transactions.
Tushar embraces the uniqueness of each company he represents, and understands that in constructing and closing deals with his clients, there is no “one-size-fits-all” path to success. Whether working with in-house attorneys, financial or tax officers, outside consultants, or other company representatives, Tushar prides himself in explaining what can often be complicated legal and financial arrangements to his clients in practical terms which allow them to make prudent business decisions.
A key player in the State's business and legal communities, Tushar serves on the Board of Directors, and as the Legislative Chair, of the South Carolina Economic Developers’ Association (SCEDA), the State's largest economic development trade group. Tushar also serves on the Board of Trustees of the South Carolina Business & Industry Political Education Committee (SC BIPEC) and is active in the Committee of 100, a volunteer marketing group that promotes economic development in central South Carolina. Tushar is also immediate past Chair of Nexsen Pruet's Recruiting and Retention Committee and is a member of the Firm’s Diversity Committee, which works to promote diversity within the legal profession, both inside and outside the Firm.
A native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, Tushar attended the University of South Carolina where he graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science with honors from the South Carolina Honors College. During his time at USC, Tushar earned multiple awards and recognitions including the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award – the most prestigious award that can be bestowed upon a USC student, and an award celebrating excellence in leadership, academics, and community service. Upon graduating from USC, Tushar earned his Juris Doctor from the Wake Forest University School of Law, where he served as Student Solicitor of the Law School Honor Council.