News
Ellis recognized as Workers' Compensation Lawyer of the Year
The proverb, “When you’ve reached the top, keep climbing,” might very well describe F. Earl Ellis, Jr. Ellis, a founding shareholder of Ellis Lawhorne & Sims, P.A., was recently selected by Best Lawyers in America® as the Columbia, S.C., Best Lawyers Workers’ Compensation Lawyer of the Year for 2010.
The veteran workers' compensation attorney—Ellis has practiced in this area of law for three decades—has enjoyed a banner year. In 2009, he achieved his fifteenth Best Lawyers designation, was selected as a South Carolina Super Lawyer, and successfully completed his 300th mediation case. In 2008, the South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association honored Ellis with its Worthy Adversary Award.
Each year, Best Lawyers compiles its list of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of attorneys evaluate their peers. Those honored as Lawyer of the Year have received particularly high ratings in the Best Lawyers surveys by earning respect among peers for their
abilities, professionalism and integrity. Only one lawyer in each legal specialty in each community is honored as the Lawyer of the Year. Ellis is one of only 29 South Carolina attorneys who were designated as "best" in their field in 2010.
Over the course of his law career, Ellis has earned the reputation as a formidable foe in courtrooms and boardrooms. It is not because he is adversarial, argumentative or combative. His formidability is based on his knowledge of the law, his keen ability to rely on facts rather than technicalities, and his respectful
approach to plaintiffs, their attorneys and juries. "It's an approach many find disarming," says Ellis Lawhorne Managing Shareholder William P. McElveen, Jr.
"Our culture expects lawyers to be confrontational, yet Earl approaches disputes with a great degree of civility, recognizing that there are two sides to every matter. He wants to win, but he does it with professionalism, grace and wit. Even opponents appreciate his style," says McElveen. "He's an
exceptional lawyer."
A member of the Firm's Workers’ Compensation Practice Group, Ellis primarily represents self-insured companies. He has served as lead counsel for the self-insurance funds for hospitals and governmental entities throughout the state. Today, Ellis is in high demand as a certified mediator, and has mediated more than 300 cases in workers’ compensation, personal injury, litigation, and other issues.
Ellis earned his Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1975. He is a past president of the South Carolina Bar and the South Carolina Self-Insurers Association and currently is a member of the South Carolina Bar, the Richland County Bar Association and the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys’ Association.
