A member of the Medical Malpractice Group, Shelton W. Haile also contributes his legal know-how as a member of the Palmetto Health Institutional Review Board.

Richardson Plowden shareholders Steven W. Hamm and Jo Anne Wessinger Hill were awarded the 2007 Robert D. Spencer Award for outstanding volunteer advocacy by the Protection and Advocacy for People with Disabilities, Inc.

Shareholder Steven W. Hamm served as the state consumer advocate and administrator of the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs for more than twelve years, representing the public before the South Carolina General Assembly and state and federal agencies.

Office
1900 Barnwell Street
Columbia, SC 29201

P.O. Drawer 7788
Columbia, SC 29202

Contact Details
Direct: 803.576.3713
Fax: 803.779.0016
Email: shamm@RichardsonPlowden.com

Practice Areas
Administrative and Regulatory Law
Appellate Practice
Banking and Finance Law
Elections Law
Legislative and Governmental Relations
Plaintiff and Defense General Litigation
Consumer Law
Unfair Trade Practices
Statutory Compliance

Education
University of California at Santa Barbara, CA (B.A.)
University of South Carolina (J.D.)

Bar Admissions
1977, South Carolina
1978, United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
1978, United States District Court, District of South Carolina
1983, United States Supreme Court
1985, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit

Other Professional

• South Carolina Bar
• Richland County Bar Association
• Former State Consumer Advocate and Administrator of the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs, represented the interests of the public and business community for more than eighteen years before the South Carolina General Assembly and state and federal courts and agencies, Congress
• Former Chairman, Federal Reserve Board's National Consumer Advisory Council
• Past President, National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates
• Past President, American Conference of Consumer Credit Code Administrators
• Past President, National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators
• Past Vice President, National Association of Consumer Credit Code Administrators
• Outstanding Achievement Award, National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators
• Member of the Edison Electric Institute Special Task Force on Complex Case Resolution
• Former member of the Board of Governors, South Carolina Reinsurance Facility
• Former member of the Department of Health and Environmental Control Health Care Planning Committee
• Former Chairman of Transportation Committee, State Energy Panel
• Past Member, State Energy Committee
• Listed in 2012 Best Lawyers in America®, Administrative and Regulatory Law

Steven W. Hamm is a shareholder of Richardson Plowden and is located in the Columbia office. He focuses his practice on complex civil litigation, in the areas of administrative and regulatory law, unfair trade practices, appellate practice, banking and finance law and also practices in the areas of election law and legislative and governmental relations. As part of his Administrative Practice, Mr. Hamm represents the interests of business entities in matters before the South Carolina Public Service Commission, South Carolina Department of Insurance, South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, South Carolina Manufactured Housing Board, South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, South Carolina Residential Home Builders Commission, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs, and the State Board of Financial Institutions.

Mr. Hamm serves as group leader for the firm’s Governmental Relations, Administrative and Employment Law Practice Group.

Mr. Hamm has served as lead counsel in the first class action in an arbitration proceeding in South Carolina, in which the class award decision was affirmed by the South Carolina Supreme Court.  The United States Supreme Court vacated on other grounds.  Ultimately, Mr. Hamm’s plaintiff class recovered $31.5 million against a national commercial lender for violations of the South Carolina Consumer Protection Code. 

He has extensive experience in mediation and in arbitration and is a court certified mediator. He has served as a mediator in both consumer and business disputes.

Mr. Hamm's representative engagements include:

• Serves as lead counsel for South Carolina in the national tobacco arbitration dispute
• Extensive complex litigation experience in plaintiff and defense litigation matters before state and federal agencies and courts
• Actively defending more than fifty automotive businesses in a complex class action litigation before the state courts against a plaintiff group regarding claims related to statutory compliance and the South Carolina Automobile Dealers Act
• Successfully representing business and trade groups before the South Carolina General Assembly in the areas of consumer banking and finance, health insurance, health care, property & casualty insurance and public schools
• Appeared on behalf of business clients in matters before the South Carolina Public Service Commission, South Carolina Department of Insurance, South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs, and the State Board of Financial Institutions
• Served as legal counsel to the South Carolina Senate during the constitutionally mandated 2000-2003 Redistricting process
• Successfully represented a county-wide political candidate before state circuit court and South Carolina Election Commission to overturn a county-wide general election and obtained a new general election that client ultimately won in the new election
• Successfully represented a group of ambulatory surgery centers by obtaining preliminary and permanent injunctions against the implementation of a new payment manual by a state agency
• Argued successfully before the SC Supreme Court on behalf of a class of consumers against a national commercial consumer lender in which he successfully argued before the South Carolina Supreme Court to reverse a jury decision and rulings of the lower court decertifying the class and obtained a significant legal and policy decision from the Supreme Court on the South Carolina Consumer Protection Code
• Successfully defended businesses and corporations by defeating class certification of plaintiff claims
• Successfully defended members of the South Carolina Senate and South Carolina House of Representatives, and County Elections Commissions against election challenges and protests filed by challengers before local county boards of canvassers, the State Board of Canvassers, and state courts by upholding primary and general election results
• Served as legal counsel for a major telecommunications company during a national restructuring effort and obtained the first approval by a state regulatory authority in the United States

Mr. Hamm was recently featured in South Carolina Living magazine for his work with Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative. Click here to read the article.

Mr. Hamm was instrumental in settling a major class action and obtained court approval for a cy pres award of $2.2 million to the University of South Carolina (USC) School of Law Building Campaign.   Mr. Hamm is an avid and long time supporter of the USC School of Law. He serves as chairman of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Chaplaincy Program which he helped create. He is a member of a public school educational foundation and is the vice-chair of a state credit union.