Greenville Attorney Honored for Commitment to Legal Services

GREENVILLE & SPARTANBURG, SC – March 12, 2013 – The South Carolina Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission and the South Carolina Bar Foundation announced South Carolina Legal Services’ Kirby R. Mitchell as the 2012 Ellen Hines Smith Legal Services Lawyer of the Year. The award, in memory of Ellen Hines Smith of Spartanburg, recognizes a lawyer who has demonstrated long-term commitment to legal services to the poor in South Carolina. Mitchell will receive this award at the seventh annual Bar Foundation Gala on Friday, March 22, at the Columbia Marriott.

Kirby Mitchell, like Ellen, has worked tirelessly to breathe life into the ideal of equal justice under the law, said Andrea E. Loney, executive director of South Carolina Legal Services. He is always among the first of our managing attorneys to challenge how we plan, budget and work to achieve a high quality law firm.

Mitchell is a managing attorney at South Carolina Legal Services’ Greenville office. He earned his undergraduate degree from Furman University and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia School of Law. His legal services experience began as a VISTA volunteer for Legal Services of Western Carolina, assisting the attorneys and managing and recruiting all service volunteers. Following his volunteer work, Mitchell traveled to Ostrava, Czech Republic, where he designed a curriculum for and taught all-English conversation classes to high school students and adults.

After returning to the United States and completing his education, Mitchell worked as an associate attorney at the Law Offices of Daniel E. Hunt, P.A., where he focused on civil litigation, estate administration and planning, appellate and real estate practice.

In the legal community, Mitchell serves as a member of the South Carolina Bar’s House of Delegates, South Carolina Supreme Court’s Docket Management Task Force and South Carolina Judicial Qualifications Committee. He also is an adjunct professor at Furman University where he teaches the course, Poverty and the Law.

Selected as one of Greenville Business Magazine’s Best and Brightest 35 and Under, Mitchell is a member of the Diversity Leaders Initiative Advisory Committee (with the Greenville Hospital System’s new medical school) and a board member of the Metropolitan Arts Council and Upstate Mediation Center.

To make a tribute gift in honor of Mr. Mitchell, download the Foundation’s donor form or give online. Tickets for Gala 2013 can be ordered online or via phone at (803)765-0517.

About the Award

The Ellen Hines Smith Legal Services Lawyer of the Year Award was established in 1989 and is named in memory of Ellen Hines Smith of Spartanburg. Ellen was the founding director of Piedmont Legal Services. She served as a member of Spartanburg City Council and a municipal court judge. Her entire legal career was devoted to the creation and provision of legal services to the citizens of South Carolina. Her commitment and leadership were recognized both in South Carolina and across the nation.

About the SC Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission

In 2007, the Supreme Court of South Carolina established the South Carolina Access to Justice Commission to address barriers within the civil legal system for South Carolinians with low income and those with modest means.

About the SC Bar Foundation

The South Carolina Bar Foundation, the Heart of the Bar, funds the advancement of justice by improving access, education and accountability.  Since 1987, the Foundation has allocated approximately $43.8 million to various legal-related organizations that work on behalf of the justice community. Last year alone, Foundation grantees assisted more than 10,200 low income South Carolinians, 450 homeless men and women and 390 victims of domestic abuse in need of legal services. For more information, visit scbarfoundation.org.