ATTORNEYS
John Shannon Nichols
Email: jsnichols@BNTDlaw.com
John Nichols graduated from Francis Marion College in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1985 and began working for Rogers and Koon (now Rogers, Townsend & Thomas), focusing primarily on property law litigation. In 1986, John was hired as a staff attorney with the Court of Appeals, and became chief staff counsel in 1993. During his tenure at the Court of Appeals, he also served as a temporary law clerk for Chief Judge Alexander M. Sanders, Jr., Associate Judge Randall T. Bell, and Acting Associate Judge C. Bruce Littlejohn. From 1996 until 2000, John was employed with Suggs & Kelly, working primarily on pharmaceutical mass tort litigation and appellate practice. While with Suggs & Kelly, John was admitted to practice pro hac vice before state and federal courts in a number of other states. John was also admitted and argued before the Federal Multi-District Litigation (MDL) Panel. In 2000, John and Marti Bluestein formed the firm Bluestein & Nichols, LLC. John’s primary focus is on appellate practice and general tort litigation.
John is a member and a former president of the South Carolina Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. He served on the South Carolina Bar’s CLE Committee from 1990 until 2006, and served as co-chair from 1996 to 1998. He also served on the Professional Responsibility Committee from 1998 until 2006. Since 2003, he has served as a member of the Board of Law Examiners by Supreme Court appointment. He is currently the immediate past president of the South Carolina Association for Justice, formerly the South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association, and serves on the Association's Board and Executive Committee.
John has spoken at a number of seminars for the South Carolina Bar and for the South Carolina Judicial Department. He has served on the Education Committee for the American Bar Association’s Council of Appellate Staff Attorneys and has assisted the South Carolina Judicial Department in developing orientation seminars for new Appellate Court and Circuit Court judges and for attorneys employed by the Department.
In addition, John has authored and edited several publications. In 1993, he co-authored a book with Chief Judge Sanders and Deborah Neese entitled Trial Handbook for South Carolina Lawyers (West Group). The Trial Handbook is now in its Fourth Edition, published in 2006. He also prepared supplemental material for the 25 volumes of South Carolina Jurisprudence, and both volumes of Ervin's Jury Charges (South Carolina Bar) and authored Case Law and Legislative Update (SC Bar 1996 to present), Masters in Equity in South Carolina (3rd Ed. SC Bar 2006), and Service of Process in South Carolina (SC Bar 2005). From 1995 through 2000, he served as editor of What’s New, the case summaries prepared by law professors for the South Carolina Lawyer magazine (South Carolina Bar). He also served on the magazine’s Editorial Board, serving as Editor-in-Chief from 2004 through 2006.
