Burnette wins Toal award from South Carolina Women Lawyers Association
January 7, 2025
Malissa Burnette, a founding partner at Burnette Shutt & McDaniel, has received the South Carolina Women Lawyers Association Jean Hoefer Toal Award. It’s an honor the organization rarely bestows.
Burnette is only the fourth attorney recognized since the program began in 2014. Former Chief Justice Toal received the award in its first year, Elaine Fowler was honored in 2015, and Inez Moore Tenenbaum was honored in 2022.
The SCWLA describes the award as recognizing “professional excellence and notable career achievement characterized by the championship of causes affecting women” and honoring “visionaries and pioneers whose careers demonstrate longstanding and groundbreaking public service, commitment to the advancement of women and the cause of justice, as well as a history of leadership in the legal community.”
Burnette, along with Toal, was a founding member of the organization. Burnette served as President of SCWLA in 2001 and as chair of its Pay Equity Task Force from 2013-15.
From early in her career, Burnette has represented clients in landmark cases that have led to advances for women. She fought before the U.S. District Court to win women the right to attend state-supported military colleges, and she won the federal court case that gave girls the right to play contact sports in South Carolina public high schools.
She, along with firm co-founder Kathleen McDaniel and Grant Burnette LeFever, have spent years battling South Carolina’s draconian abortion law. The three are part of a legal team that’s won challenges in both state and federal courts.
Burnette is marking her 30th year as a South Carolina Supreme Court Certified Specialist in Labor and Employment Law. Few attorneys in the state have held the credential for 25 years or longer.
About Burnette Shutt & McDaniel, PA
Located in Columbia’s historic Vista district, Burnette Shutt & McDaniel, PA is a full-service civil rights law firm handling employment discrimination, Title IX student/education discrimination, election law, housing discrimination, federal lawsuits involving allegations such as excessive force, and family law. The firm’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 also represents clients in employee benefits and ERISA matters and government matters such as eminent domain, land use, and zoning. Additionally, the firm represents LGBTQ+ clients in a range of issues, including family law and name and gender-marker changes. Learn more at burnetteshutt.law.
