National Law Journal honors Burnette, McDaniel and LeFever
COLUMBIA, SC – M. Malissa Burnette, Kathleen McDaniel, and Grant Burnette LeFever are being profiled as Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Trailblazers in this month’s edition of the “National Law Journal.”
The honor recognizes their work in Planned Parenthood South Atlantic v South Carolina. That case led the state Supreme Court to reject South Carolina’s abortion ban as an unconstitutional invasion of privacy. That ruling secured reproductive rights in South Carolina that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization put at risk.
Burnette, McDaniel and LeFever also were part of the legal team that already had successfully blocked the six-week ban on the federal level before the law was even implemented. When Roe v Wade was overturned, sending abortion issues back to states, a challenge in South Carolina courts became necessary.
Employment law defense attorney Kathy Dudley Helms, who’s regularly opposed attorneys from Burnette Shutt & McDaniel in cases, nominated the three for their work on the important issue.
“It wasn’t a case necessarily that many attorneys would take because of the political ramifications,” Helms observed. “I admire their willingness to stand up for many who cannot stand up for themselves and to hold the state to the protections guaranteed in the South Carolina Constitution.”
Burnette, McDaniel and LeFever long have been part of the Planned Parenthood legal team. In addition to representing the organization in the two cases defending reproductive freedom, the attorneys also have fought to allow South Carolina Medicaid recipients to continue to receive medical treatment at Planned Parenthood clinics.
“I am so proud of my colleagues’ work in all of these cases,” firm co-founder Nekki Shutt said. “They are standing up for all of us, as well as protecting generations to come from draconian laws aimed at setting society back 50 years.”