Burnette Shutt & McDaniel honored as a top women-led law firm
July 21, 2025
“South Carolina Lawyers Weekly” is listing Burnette Shutt & McDaniel among the top women-led law firms in the state.
“In the Lead: Best Women-Led Law Firm,” the special section honoring the firms, is being published this month. Selection criteria include demonstrated success in a number of areas, including growth, high employee morale, strong community engagement, and a record of efforts designed to help women attorneys thrive professionally.
Malissa Burnette, Nekki Shutt and Kathleen McDaniel founded the firm in 2017 as an all-woman firm. The goal was to form a different kind of law firm, one with attorneys with a commitment to moving law forward and fighting for the civil rights of others on issues involving employment law such as race, sex, disability, and LGBTQ discrimination; education law; police misconduct; housing discrimination; subhuman jail conditions; and beyond.
“We started with a vision of what our ideal workplace would be: A law firm committed to diversity, to mutual respect, to standing up for others who need help fighting powerful systems,” Shutt said. “We are very proud of what the three of us created.”
In the years since, the women, and men, at the firm have been at the forefront of numerous high-profile cases, including marriage equity, reproductive healthcare rights on behalf of Planned Parenthood, challenging political corruption, and suing to end inhumane conditions at Richland County’s Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.
They’ve also fought for individuals, such as a police chief fired after a city leader went on a homophobic rant and a county worker who lost her job after making allegations of fraud.
“One of our firm’s proudest and most affirming moments was receiving the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Service Award from the University of South Carolina’s Joseph F. Rice School of Law in 2024,” said Burnette.
In addition to employment law and civil rights, the firm’s attorneys practice in a range of other areas, including government law, environmental law, ERISA and employee benefits, education law, property law, and family law.
The firm’s attorneys have served as leaders in the community and in the profession. Shutt recently was sworn in as president-elect of the 19,000-member South Carolina Bar.
About Burnette Shutt & McDaniel, PA
Located in Columbia’s historic Vista business district, Burnette Shutt & McDaniel, PA’s attorneys are licensed to practice in all South Carolina courts and at all levels of federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. The firm represents clients in a range of areas, including employment, environmental, education, family, and administrative law. They also handle employee benefits and ERISA matters, civil rights cases, privacy and data protection issues and government matters such as eminent domain, land use and zoning. Learn more at burnetteshutt.law.
