Burnette Shutt & McDaniel receives King Distinguished Service Award

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COLUMBIA, SC – Burnette Shutt & McDaniel has received the 2024 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Service Award from the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law.

The honor recognizes the firm’s dedication to public service, social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“Our firm was founded with a deep commitment to those values, and every attorney here strives to uphold them on a daily basis,” firm co-founder M. Malissa Burnette said. “Certainly that’s highly visible in the landmark cases we litigate, but it’s also there in the less-publicized battles we fight for clients.”

The firm accepted the award at a Thursday reception and celebration of Dr. King’s legacy at the law school. The celebration’s theme was “The Trumpet of Conscience: The Role of Lawyers in the Fight for Justice.”

Since its founding, Burnette Shutt & McDaniel has been dedicated to that fight, representing clients in a variety of employment law, social justice, and civil rights cases. The firm’s attorneys helped pave the way for marriage equality in South Carolina. Burnette Shutt & McDaniel attorneys also are part of the legal team that has battled for years to protect reproductive freedom in the state. Additionally, Burnette Shutt & McDaniel litigators are part of the legal team suing to improve conditions for incarcerated individuals at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County.

About Burnette Shutt & McDaniel, PA

Located in Columbia’s historic business district, Burnette Shutt & McDaniel, PA’s attorneys are licensed to practice in all South Carolina courts and at all levels of federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. The firm represents clients in a range of areas, including employment, environmental, education, family, and criminal law. They also handle employee benefits and ERISA matters, civil rights cases, privacy and data protection issues and government matters such as eminent domain, land use and zoning. Learn more at burnetteshutt.law.