For the afternoon session, participants may choose between the Civil, Corporate, Criminal, Family and Probate Law tracks.  Participants are free to attend any track and/or switch tracks.

 

2025 “Year-End” CLE
Family Law Afternoon Session- Room 202A

 

1:15 - 2:00

Judges Panel: Perspective from the Bench
(45 Minute Cle)

PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO RULE 21

 

+ The Honorable Rochelle Conits

Judge Conits is a native of Lexington County, South Carolina, where she graduated from the Lexington County public schools. She attended Lander University in Greenwood and was a member of the Lander College Women’s Basketball team. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of South Carolina in 1987. After college, she worked for two years as a legal assistant in Columbia. In 1992 Judge Conits graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law.

After law school, Judge Conits worked as an associate attorney for King & Vernon, P.A., Columbia, South Carolina, where she practiced until December 1996. Her family relocated to Greenville, South Carolina in January 1997, and she joined Wilkins & Madden, P.A. as an associate attorney, becoming partner in that firm in March 2000. In February 2006, Judge Conits was elected to the South Carolina Family Court bench and sits in Greenville County.

As a practicing attorney, Judge Conits was rated “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell. She was admitted to practice in the State and Federal Courts in South Carolina and before the United States Supreme Court. She is an active member of the South Carolina Bar, where she served on the Family Court Task Force and the Family Law Council. She served on the Editorial Board of Marital Litigation in South Carolina Third Edition. Judge Conits has served as a speaker and instructor for continuing legal education seminars for both the South Carolina Bar and the South Carolina Trial Lawyers. She has served as a judge for the South Atlantic Mock Trial Tournament and the South Carolina Bar Mock Trial Competition.

Judge Conits is married to Spero John Conits of Greenville, South Carolina. She has two children, a son, Capers Brooks Williamson, and a daughter, Heather Elizabeth Conits.

+ The Honorable Tarita Dunbar

Judge Tarita A. (Ridgill) Dunbar was born in Manning, South Carolina and raised in Summerton, South Carolina.  She is the daughter of Roland Hayes and Clotel Ragin Richburg and the late William Nelson Ridgill.   She is a graduate of Manning High School, Georgetown University and the University Of South Carolina School Of Law.

After law school, Tarita started her legal career in private practice in Columbia, South Carolina practicing in the area of domestic relations.    Shortly thereafter, Tarita served as the Director of Research and Legal Counsel for the South Carolina Senate Committee on Corrections and Penology. Her legal career also includes serving as an Attorney for the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation; Attorney for Spartanburg and Cherokee County Department of Social Services; and Attorney for South Carolina Department of Social Services Child Support Division.

Tarita was appointed to serve as a Commissioner to the South Carolina Human Affairs Board of Commissioner.  She also served on the Board of Eau Claire Cooperative Health Centers, Inc., Columbia, South Carolina.

Tarita is a member of Augusta Road Church of Christ, Greenville, South Carolina, where she has served as Sunday School Teacher. 

She enjoys exercising at the Caine Halter YMCA, reading, and hiking.  Tarita is passionate about other’s health in terms of eating properly and using nature’s remedies for healing.

+ The Honorable Thomas T. Hodges

Thomas Tredway Hodges was born in Conway, South Carolina in 1959 to Dr. Rupert E. Hodges and Eunice Purnell Hodges.

Tommy grew up in Spartanburg, South Carolina and graduated from Spartanburg High School in 1978.  He attended Georgia Tech before graduating from USCS with a degree in Business Administration.  He graduated from USC School of Law in 1987. He was admitted to the South Carolina Bar on November 23, 1987.

After graduation from law school Judge Hodges worked as an associate with Haynsworth Baldwin Johnson and Greaves, a nationally renowned labor and employment law firm.  He became a partner in that firm in 1994.  In 2003 he and Marsh Robertson formed what would later become Robertson & Hodges, LLC where he practiced family law exclusively.  After Marsh Robertson was elected to the Family Court bench in 2010, Judge Hodges formed Thomas T. Hodges, P.A. where he continued his exclusive Family Court practice until his election on February 1, 2017.

Judge Hodges is a member of the Greenville County Bar, the South Carolina Bar, and is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.  While in private practice he was recognized as a “Super Lawyer” in the area of family law and held an “AV” rating from Martindale-Hubbell.

In his spare time, he enjoys golf, hunting and traveling with his family.

+ Moderator: J. Elizabeth McCool

Elizabeth McCool practices family law at Bannister, Wyatt & Stalvey, LLC.

Mrs. McCool graduated magna cum laude from the University of South Carolina Honors College with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. She continued her education receiving an MBA from Gardner Webb University and law degree from the University of South Carolina.

A native of Greer, South Carolina, Mrs. McCool enjoys spending her free time with her child and husband, on the golf course, sampling local cuisine, reading, or with her dog Howard.

2:00 – 2:20

Dos and Don’ts for successful mediation
(20 Minute cle)

 

+ the honorable kelly pope-black

Kelly Pope-Black has been an attorney for 24 years. In that time she has represented clients in family court and complex civil litigation cases. She is a former family court judge. Prior to her work as an attorney, Kelly worked with physically and sexually abused children at the Foothills Rape Crisis Center and Safe Harbor. She now focuses her practice solely on family and civil court mediation and was appointed to the South Carolina Supreme Court ADR Commission.

2:20 - 2:45

DSS Cases: Back to Basics
(25 Minute CLE)

 

+ Jonathan Hammond

Jonathan Hammond is from Greenville, SC and has lived in South Carolina his entire life. Jonathan graduated from Presbyterian College in 1998 and the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2001. He began his legal career as a law clerk to a United States District Judge in Spartanburg, SC. Jonathan practiced as a litigation attorney with several regional law firms and one national law firm during his first decade of private practice.

In 2011, Jonathan shifted his practice to focus on family law. He has practiced almost exclusively in the Family Court since that time, with a brief pause to serve as the County Director of Spartanburg County DSS for approximately one year. He also previously served as a County Attorney for DSS in Greenville County. Since returning to private practice, Jonathan is involved in nearly every type of matter that comes before the Family Court. He routinely serves as a private GAL in custody actions throughout the Upstate, and he also serves as counsel for the GAL offices in Cherokee, Spartanburg and Union Counties.

2:45 - 3:00

Break with Refreshments

3:00 - 3:15

Orders of protection
(15 Minute CLE)

SCCA 425 FORM

 

+ Marcelo Torricos

Marcelo Torricos grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and spent his undergraduate years at Clemson University where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 2009. In 2013, Mr. Torricos obtained his Juris Doctorate from John Marshall Law School in Atlanta, Georgia. During law school, he clerked for the United States District Attorney’s Office in Greenville, SC and then for the Honorable J. Michelle Childs of the Federal District Court in Greenville, SC.

Mr. Torricos was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in November of 2013 and upon graduation from law school, he served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Robin B. Stilwell, Circuit Court Judge for the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit. During his clerkship, Mr. Torricos gained invaluable experience in the areas of criminal and civil law. This clerkship was a great influence in Mr. Torricos’ decision to focus a significant portion of his practice on criminal defense. Mr. Torricos’ practice is also heavily focused on family/domestic law. Mr. Torricos has been recognized as one of Greenville Business Magazine’s Legal Elite of the Upstate and The National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40. He is also a member of the National College of DUI Defense.

In his spare time, Mr. Torricos spends a lot of time on the golf course, buying/trading/collecting watches, cheering on his Clemson Tigers, and traveling with his family.

3:15 - 4:00

judges panel: Perspective from the bench
(45 Minute CLE)

+ The Honorable Kimaka Nihcols-Graham

Judge Nichols-Graham is a native of Mullins, South Carolina.  She graduated from Mullins High School with honors; from Winthrop University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science; and, from the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University with a Master of Science in Public Policy. Judge Nichols-Graham returned to South Carolina and earned a Juris Doctor from The University of South Carolina School of Law. Judge Nichols-Graham demonstrated an interest in children’s law by interning, clerking or volunteering at the domestic violence shelter in Rock Hill, South Carolina, at the Education Law Center of New Jersey, at the Richland County CASA Office, at the SC Department of Education and the SC Association of School Administrators before seeking a position at a legal services program that would allow her to represent students and families in matters related to public school.

The Legal Services Agency of Western Carolina, Inc., gave Judge Nichols-Graham the opportunity to develop a children’s law program that included education law. Judge Nichols-Graham worked as a staff attorney, a children’s law attorney, the education unit head, a supervising attorney for the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, and as a managing attorney of a large office at South Carolina Legal Services. She worked with SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center to create an education task force that later became a unit at legal services. Judge Nichols-Graham primarily practiced family and education law but she also practiced housing, consumer, social security, and in a few other areas of law to assist with stabilizing families.

As a young lawyer, Judge Nichols-Graham developed a children’s law program that included monitoring the firm’s termination of parental rights and adoption cases and assisting attorneys in ways to efficiently and effectively resolve those cases across several counties in the upstate. She coordinated a program focused on explaining legal rights and responsibilities to parents while their children participated in a Saturday Success Program at the Center for Educational Equity. Judge Nichols-Graham volunteered with the School Carolina Bar’s children law committee and the SC Black Lawyers Association.  By 2001 she had worked successfully to add education law to the areas of practice for all legal services programs in South Carolina.  She served on the board of SC Protection and Advocacy, on the SC Supreme Court Commission of Continuing Legal Education and Specialization and on the SC Children Justice Act Task Force. She provided numerous legal education sessions to the Bar and the public.

The South Carolina Bar awarded Judge Nichols-Graham with the Young Lawyer of the Year Award for 2001-2002.  The SC Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission and the SC Bar Foundation awarded Judge Nichols-Graham the 2014 Ellen Hines Smith Legal Services Attorney of the Year. In 2019 the Greenville Business Magazine included Judge Nichols-Graham as one of the Legal Elite of the Upstate.

Judge Nichols-Graham is the daughter of Deacon John L. Nichols and Reverend Bettie Nichols of Mullins, South Carolina. She is married to Hakim Graham and they have a daughter.  She has one sibling, Sheila Arrington, RPh. Judge Nichols-Graham is a member of Delta Sigma Theta,Sorority, Inc. She enjoys art, genealogy, exploring the history of South Carolina and spending time with her family.

+ The Honorable Marsh Robertson

Judge William Marsh Robertson was born in 1963 in Greer, South Carolina and grew up in Greenville. After graduating from Greenville High School in 1981, Robertson attended Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, where in 1985 he graduated cum laude. He earned his juris doctorate degree from the University of the South Carolina School of Law in the spring of 1988.

Following law school, Robertson worked for two years as an associate with the Columbia, South Carolina law firm of Lewis, Lide, Bruce and Potts, PA. In 1990, he relocated to Greenville, where he joined his father in forming Robertson & Robertson, PA, a law firm dedicated to the practice of matrimonial and family law. For the next 20 years, Robertson practiced exclusively in the area of family law, most recently with Robertson & Hodges, LLC. On February 3, 2010, he was elected by the South Carolina Legislature to Seat 2, Family Court, 13th Judicial Circuit.

Robertson has been a member of the South Carolina Bar since 1988. He served on the Family Law Council from 1998 to 2001, and was a Fellow in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers from 1999 to 2010. Robertson also served as an editorial board member for Stuckey, Marital Litigation in South Carolina: Substantive Law, 3rd Edition, 2000, and Stuckey, Marriage and Divorce in South Carolina: A Layperson’s Guide, 2001.

In private practice, Robertson was rated “AV” by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, and was selected for inclusion in the 2008, 2009, and 2010 editions of South Carolina Super Lawyers. Robertson has presented at multiple Continuing Legal Education seminars, both as a lawyer and as a judge.  He has served as an officer of the South Carolina Conference of Family Court Judges, a member of the Family Court Judge’s Advisory Committee, and an instructor at Orientation School for Newly Elected Family Court Judges.

Robertson is married and has three adult children and two adult stepchildren.  He is an enthusiast of music and sports, and enjoys playing golf and spending time with family.

+ The Honorable Karen S. Roper

The Honorable Karen Sanchez Roper is a native of Valdosta,Georgia.  She graduated from the University of Georgia in 1991, obtaining her Bachelor of Arts in History.  She then attended the University of South Carolina School of Law, where she was a finalist in the J. Woodrow Lewis Moot Court Competition, selected to argue a case before the South Carolina Supreme Court, and then served as captain of the Moot Court Team in the Region V National Competition in Atlanta. She received her Juris Doctor in 1994.

Upon the completion of her education, Judge Roper joined the Charleston firm of Laddaga,Crout, and Drachman, P.A. as an associate attorney.  She founded Roper Law Firm, LLC in 1998, primarily handling domestic, probate, and government matters.  She has represented clients in both upstate and lowcountry Family Courts through her various roles as a private attorney, DSS prosecutor, Office of Indigent Defense counsel, Guardian ad Litem, and Certified Family Court Mediator.  Judge Roper is committed to promoting the well-being of children and families in her community, having previously served with organizations such as Pickens County First Steps, Prevent Child Abuse Pickens County, Women United of Pickens County, Cannon Memorial Hospital Foundation, and the Anderson-Oconee-Pickens Mental Health Center.  She is a graduate of Leadership Pickens County, past president of Pickens Women’s Association, a former member of the Liberty and Pickens Chambers of Commerce, and past nominee as Pickens County Businesswoman of the Year.  She is a member of Pickens Presbyterian Church where she has served as Elder, Trustee, and Clerk of the Session.

  Judge Roper is a member of the South Carolina Bar, Family Law Section; the Pickens County Bar; the Greenville County Bar; the South Carolina Women Lawyers Association; and the South Carolina Family Law American Inn of Court.  She is admitted to practice before South Carolina State Courts, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States District Court.

Judge Roper began her service on the bench in 2016, being elected by the South Carolina Legislature as a Family Court Judge for the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, Seat 4.

+ Moderator Reid T. Sherard

Reid Sherard leads Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd’s Family Law practice group. He concentrates his time in complex divorce-related litigation, particularly involving significant assets, income, valuation, or other challenging financial issues as well as contested custody matters, interstate and international jurisdiction disputes, and premarital and postnuptial agreements. He enjoys helping individuals find solutions to difficult personal problems, whether through negotiated settlement or in trial. Reid is sensitive to the private nature of the matters he handles and recognizes the importance of each case.

Reid is based in Greenville, his hometown, but practices across the state. He is frequently requested to speak on family law issues at statewide seminars. 

Reid also maintains a litigation and appellate practice.  He has tried cases in the family court,federal district court, and various state and local courts. He has argued ten appeals, including in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the South Carolina Supreme Court,and the South Carolina Court of Appeals.

Before joining Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, Reid practiced for 15 years at an AmLaw 100 firm. He is a graduate of the nationally recognized Family Law Trial Institute in Houston, Texas. Reid commenced his career as a law clerk to the late Hon. G. Ross Anderson, Jr., U.S. District Judge for the District of South Carolina.