Samuel R. Clawson

Since 2012, Sam has limited his practice to conducting mediations and, in 2015, he began doing focus groups in large and complex cases.

Sam served as the managing member of Clawson & Staubes, LLC from 1983 through 2015. During this time, the firm grew from 4 attorneys in Charleston to almost 40 attorneys in Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, and Charlotte. He was active in the tort defense of individuals, partnerships, and corporations. Since 1980, he has tried numerous cases each year for a variety of different insurers.

A certified mediator, Sam has an interest in alternative dispute resolution. He was a pioneer in the development of binding summary jury trials as an alternative to binding arbitrations, and lectures frequently on the topic. He has been featured in the national edition of Lawyers Weekly, explaining the summary jury trial procedure in South Carolina. He has made presentations on this innovative method of dispute resolution to the New York Trial Lawyers Association and to the California State Bar.

Sam has also lectured on a variety of trial advocacy topics in SC and NY, on such topics as Opening Statements, Direct and Cross Examination of Lay Witnesses, Direct and Cross Examination of Expert Witnesses, and Closing Arguments.

St Andrews Church in Mt Pleasant is a very important part of his life. On April 15, 2021, he was ordained as a deacon in the Anglican Church in North America.

In earlier years, Sam was active in the field of International Missions and is the former co-chair of that committee at St. Andrew’s Church, Mt. Pleasant. He has participated in mission trips to the Dominican Republic (1x), Venezuela (2x), Switzerland (1x), Honduras (1x), and Liberia (10x). In February 2010, he was part of a team that opened, in partnership with St. Thomas Episcopal Church of Monrovia, Liberia, the J. Dwalu Kimber School in Brewerville, Liberia, which serves a community of people who were displaced by the 15 years of civil war that ravaged the country. He last visited Liberia in February 2015 to re-establish contacts with clergy and friends at St Thomas after a 2 year absence as the country emerged from the Ebola crisis.

Sam enjoyed backpacking. He has hiked sections of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. He has hiked in Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. In particular, he enjoyed hiking with his daughter and completed a two-week section hike with her on the AT starting in Damascus, Virginia, a one-week section hike starting at Springer Mountain, Georgia, and, in July 2011, a five day AT section hike in the White Mountains, New Hampshire. He still enjoys day hikes with his wife.

He has been recognized as a Distinguished Alumnae at Campbell University and has served on the Presidential Advisory Board for the University. He formerly served on the Board of Advisors for the Norman A. Wiggins School of Law, Campbell University.

• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Focus Groups

• South Carolina 1980
• North Carolina 1997
• U.S. District Court of South Carolina 1981
• United States Supreme Court 1983

• Wofford College, Bachelor of Arts, Government, 1970
• Campbell University, Norman A. Wiggins School of Law, Juris Doctor 1980

• Distinguished Alumnae Campbell University
• Presidential Advisory Board for Campbell University
• Best Lawyers Lawyer of the Year Insurance Law 2013, 2017, and 2020
• Best Lawyers insurance Law 2008-2022
• Martindale-Hubbell, AV Preeminent Rating
• Omicron Delta Kappa
• Phi Kappa Phi
• Campbell Law Review 1978-1980
• Super Lawyers, since 2009
• National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, since 2019

• Charleston County Bar Association
• Berkeley County Bar Association Past President

• “Public Documents in the Hands of Private Collectors”, 1 CAMPBELL LAW REVIEW 179 (1979).
• Sam has given numerous presentations to the South Carolina Bar and across the United States (including California and New York) on issues such as Summary Jury Trials, Direct and Cross Examination of lay witnesses, Opening and Closing Statements, and Trial Tactics