Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd attorney Sam Mabry elected SC ABOTA president

The law firm of Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A. is pleased to announce that H. Sam Mabry III was installed as president of the South Carolina chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) on February 5, at the chapter’s annual dinner meeting in Columbia. Sam will serve as president February 2009 through January 2010. He practices in the Firm’s Greenville office.

In addition to his installation, H. Donald (Don) Sellers, also a shareholder in Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd’s Greenville office, was inducted into ABOTA at this meeting.

ABOTA is a national organization, comprised of many of the country’s pre-eminent trial attorneys, whose main goals are the preservation of the Seventh Amendment right to a trial by jury in civil cases and the promotion of professionalism and civility among trial attorneys. Election to ABOTA is based on reputation, trial experience and high ethics. The South Carolina chapter of ABOTA also provides educational programs to other attorneys in South Carolina, students at the University of South Carolina Law School and to high school students in South Carolina. The South Carolina chapter of ABOTA has twice been elected “Chapter of the Year” by ABOTA nationally.

Sam is admitted to practice in the U.S. Fourth and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals and South Carolina. He defends clients in class actions, business, commercial and financial services litigation and also regularly handles employment contracts disputes and patent and trade secret litigation. A fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, Sam is consistently included in The Best Lawyers in America® - Commercial Litigation, Personal Injury Litigation and Products Liability Litigation. He is also listed in the 2008 and 2009 South Carolina Super Lawyers™ - Business Litigation.

Sam has been active in ABOTA since being elected in 2002; member of executive committee, 2004-present; secretary/treasurer, 2006-2007; and president-elect, November 2007-January 2009. He is also a member of the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys’ Association and the South Carolina and Greenville County Bar Associations.

Sam earned his J.D., cum laude, from the University of South Carolina in 1981, and his B.A. from the University of South Carolina, in 1978.

Concentrating on complex commercial cases, Don Sellers is a member of The Defense Research Institute, Inc., and the American, South Carolina, and Greenville County Bar Associations. He received his J.D., cum laude, from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1973, and is a 1969 graduate of Furman University. Don is admitted to practice in South Carolina, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. District Court, South Carolina. He is a South Carolina Certified Circuit Court Mediator.