Office
1900 Barnwell Street
Columbia, SC 29201
P.O. Drawer 7788
Columbia, SC 29202
Contact Details
Direct: 803.576.3714
Fax: 803.779.0016
Email: jhill@RichardsonPlowden.com
Practice Areas
Administrative and Regulatory Law
Elections Law
Insurance Defense
Legislative and Governmental Relations
Appellate Practice
Plaintiff and Defense General Litigation
Consumer Law
Unfair Trade Practices
Statutory Compliance
Workers' Compensation
Education
University of South Carolina (B.S., cum laude, business administration)
University of South Carolina (USC) School of Law (J.D.)
President's List, Dean's List
USC Faculty/Staff Dependent's Scholarship
Tau Beta Sigma, Delta Sigma Pi, Gamma Beta Phi, Phi Alpha Delta
USC Marching Band
Student Bar Association
Bar Admissions
1991, South Carolina
1998, United States Supreme Court
1999, United States District Court, District of South Carolina
1999, United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
Other Professional
- South Carolina Bar
- Richland County Bar Association
- South Carolina Women Lawyers Association
- Member, S.C. Governor David M. Beasley's Ad Hoc Committee on Health Care
- Staff Member, Legislative Committee to Review the Consumer Finance Industry
- Member, Ad Hoc Plan of Operation Editorial Board for SC Associated Auto Insurers Plan
- Member, USC Semester Program Internship Candidate Review Board
- Appointed Staff Attorney for the South Carolina House of Representatives Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee by Speaker Robert J. Sheheen and then Committee Chairman State Representative (now State Senator) Thomas C. Alexander
- Appointed Assistant Legal Counsel to Governor Carroll A. Campbell and Deputy Division Director for the Division of Ombudsmen and Citizen Services
- Following her service with the Executive Branch of State Government in the Office of the Governor, she was appointed by Speaker David H. Wilkins and then Committee Chairman (now Speaker Pro Tempore) Harry F. Cato to serve as Legal Counsel and Director of Research for the S.C. House of Representatives Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee; thus, making her the first woman attorney to serve in this senior position in the history of the Committee
C. Jo Anne Wessinger Hill is a shareholder of Richardson Plowden and is located in the Columbia office. She practices primarily in the areas of administrative and regulatory law, elections law, general litigation, legislative and governmental relations, appellate law and workers compensation. She often works on complex civil litigation in the areas of unfair trade practices and statutory compliance.
She regularly represents the interests of business entities and individuals in business, regulatory, and administrative litigation in federal and state court in South Carolina, as well as state agencies, including but not limited to the South Carolina Public Service Commission, South Carolina Department of Insurance, South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs, and the State Board of Financial Institutions. Mrs. Wessinger Hill also has considerable experience in election law litigation and legislative and governmental relations with branches of state and local governments.
She has also successfully represented protesting candidates in election law disputes before the South Carolina State Board of Canvassers in overturning elections and obtaining new elections for candidates which were won by these candidates, as well as defending political candidates and officials in challenges and protests to uphold election results.
She is also experienced in mediation and in arbitration and is a certified mediator.
Mrs. Wessinger Hill's representative engagements include:
- Wrote brief and successfully argued before the South Carolina Supreme Court in Wigfall vs. Tideland Utilities, 354 S.C. 100, 580 S.E.2d 100 (2003), when defending employer against appeal by the claimant seeking to modify existing law and precedent so as to allow for an award of permanent and total disability based upon a single member injury in the workers' compensation system
- Successfully representing business and trade groups as a registered lobbyist before the South Carolina General Assembly in the areas of consumer banking and finance, health insurance, health care, property and casualty insurance, public schools and actively defending more than fifty automotive businesses in complex case litigation before the state courts against plaintiff group representative claims related to statutory compliance and the South Carolina Automobile Dealers Act
- Appeared on behalf of business clients in matters before the South Carolina Public Service Commission, South Carolina Department of Insurance, South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs, and the State Board of Financial Institutions
- 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
- Co-counsel in successfully obtaining preliminary and permanent injunctions for a group of ambulatory surgery centers against the implementation of a new payment manual by a state agency
- Successfully represented individual property owners before the county’s local zoning board of appeals to obtain finding that the ordinance was improper
- Co-counsel in successfully defending corporation in State Court by defeating class certification of plaintiff claims
- Co-counsel in successfully defending members of the South Carolina Senate, 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 co-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
- Successfully negotiated agreements with the United States Department of Education in the interest of an institution of higher learning
Mrs. Wessinger Hill graduated cum laude from the University of South Carolina (USC). As an undergraduate, she was on the President's List, as well as a member of Tau Beta Sigma and the USC Marching Band. She earned her juris doctor from the USC School of Law. She was a member of the Student Bar Association and Phi Alpha Delta.
During her public service with the South Carolina House of Representatives, Mrs. Wessinger Hill worked on major legislative issues which reformed the automobile insurance system, workers' compensation system, small group employers health insurance laws, telecommunications laws, consumer finance laws and many other matters. |
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