ABOTA holds Annual Dinner

Thomas H. Pope III, vice president of the SC ABOTA, presents the Jeter Rhodes SC Lawyer of the Year Award to I.S. Leevy Johnson.

The SC Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) held its Annual Dinner, Awards Ceremony, and Dance at the Summit Club November 11, 2004. Mark W. Buyck Jr., president, presided.

J. Lewis Cromer, National Board Member, recognized the Masters in Trial Faculty. F. Barron Grier III, secretary, introduced the new members: Thomas W. Traxler, George C. Beighley, Robert E. Steep, and Moffatt G. McDonald.

Sherod H. Eadon Jr. announced James W. Bannister of Greenville as the 2004 Young Lawyer of the Year. Bannister, 34, is a partner in the Greenville law firm of Bannister & Wyatt, L.L.C. He practices federal and state criminal law and has tried several notable cases in SC.

Albert McAllister (l) and Sherod H. Eadon Jr. (r) present Jim Bannister with the SC ABOTA Young Lawyer of the Year Award. Bannister’s participation in cases involving video poker and Carolina Investors has earned him high visibility and an impressive reputation. A 1995 graduate of the USC School of Law, Bannister is the current president of the SC Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

New members of the SC ABOTA are Thomas W. Traxler, George C. Beighley, Robert E. Stepp, and Moffatt G. McDonald. I.S. Leevy Johnson was presented the Jeter Rhodes SC Lawyer of the Year Award by Thomas H. Pope II, vice president. Johnson has served in the SC House of Representatives, received the Order of the Palmetto, and is a former president of the SC BAR. Johnson said, “I never wanted to be a lawyer, and many of my clients say I never became one…I started out working at the funeral home for my grandfather where I washed cars, embombed bodies, and dug graves. After I finished Benedict College, I moved to the front office, washed cars, embombed bodies, and dug graves…I had to go to law school to get out of there. Now I’m back there again running the funeral home.”

The SC ABOTA Executive Committee and their wives enjoyed the Annual Dinner, Award Ceremony, and Dance at the Summitt Club November 11, 2004. Members (standing) and their wives (seated) are Thomas and Adele Pope, Mark and Julia Buyck, Barron and Judy Grier, Lewis and Carolyn Cromer, and Laniel and Vivian Chapman. Lewis Cromer presented the first ABOTA Journalist of the Year Award to Warner M. Montgomery of The Columbia Star .

Warner M. Montgomery, publisher of Founded in 1957, ABOTA works to foster improvement in the ethical and technical standards of practice in the field of advocacy. ABOTA’s goal is to insure that individual litigants receive effective representation and the general public benefits from the efficient administration of justice consistent with time–tested and traditional principles of litigation.

The Columbia Star (l) received the SC ABOTA Journalist of the Year Award. He is shown here with Linda Sosbee, financial

The SC ABOTA inducted four new members for 2004. The new members are (seated, l–r) Thomas W. Traxler, George C. Beighley, Moffatt G. McDonald, and Robert E. Stepp. Members of the SCABOTA Executive Committee are (standing, (l–r) Lewis Cromer, National Board Member; F. Barron Grier III, secretary; Thomas H. Pope III, vice president; Mark W. Buyck Jr., president; Charles T. Speth II; and V. Laniel Chapman, National Board Member. manager of The Columbia Star ; Lewis Cromer, ABOTA

The Masters in Trial Faculty for the 2004 SC ABOTA Annual Mock Trial are (seated, l–r) Harry Widmann, New Orleans, LA; John Rodgers, Greeneville, TN; Gracella Simmons, Baton Rouge, LA; Reece Williams, Columbia, past national president of ABOTA; J.D. Lee, Nashville, TN; (standing, l–r) Sherrod Eadon, Ted Speth, program chairman, Masters in Trial; Roy DeCaro, Philadelphia, PA; William Callaham, Sacramento, CA; William Simms, Knoxville, TN; and Dulin Kelly, Nashville, TN. National Board Member; and Mimi Maddock,

executive editor of The Columbia Star