Wallace K. Lightsey

Following graduation from Harvard Law School, I clerked for two outstanding federal appellate judges — Judge John Minor Wisdom of the Fifth Circuit, and Chief Justice Warren E. Burger of the U.S. Supreme Court. I returned to my native South Carolina after the Supreme Court clerkship, and have been with the same law firm since then. My practice focuses on complex securities, corporate, and intellectual property cases. I also have an active practice representing the news media in First Amendment and public records litigation. In that area, I have represented Time Inc., The New York Times Company, The Associated Press, Forbes, Meredith Corporation, and Hearst-Argyle Broadcasting, as well as local news media including The Greenville News, The Spartanburg Herald, WYFF TV, WHNS TV, WSPA TV, and other newspapers around South Carolina. I also have substantial experience litigating disputes over intellectual property and in recent years I was lead counsel in copyright lawsuits involving close to a billion dollars at issue. I was inducted as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2004.