Charles R. Norris

About me.

My first job after graduating from the University of California at Los Angeles was working at a warehouse delivering beer. I was a strikebreaker and delivered some 600 cases of beer throughout Los Angeles for 3 months and was then laid off when the strike ended. Every morning I had to cross a picket line and receive threats of bodily injury from people much larger than me. However, as the youngest of five boys, this was nothing I was not used to. 

Experience counts for so much in litigation. I was frustrated as a young lawyer because every opponent knew more than I did. It was a humbling experience. So I resolved that no lawyer will know this week’s appellate court decisions better than me. To accomplish this, in 1981 I began summarizing the holdings of every South Carolina appellate case each week. Weeks grew into months, months grew into years, and years grew into decades. I now have an indexed summary of every South Carolina appellate court holding for the past 40 years excepting tax, family, or criminal law, consisting of approximately 15,000 pages and 1,700 topics and subtopics. There are not many questions concerning South Carolina law that I cannot answer quickly.     

I cut my teeth defending wreck cases. My first jury trial was in Magistrate’s court where the jurisdictional maximum a was $1,000. I lost $1,000. The stakes grew, my skills grew, and my experience grew. I have tried cases involving defamation, employment, products liability, auto liability, professional malpractice, insurance bad faith, and other areas of law.  My trial work has led to my admission to the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL). For the last thirty years I have had significant experience in the realm of insurance coverage, bad faith, and claims involving insurance agents. 

My proudest accomplishments are my two girls, Zoe and Lian, and my wife Susan.