BurnetteShutt.law

Kathleen M. McDanielPartner

E kmcdaniel@burnetteshutt.law
P (803) 904-7913
F (803) 904-7910

Practice Areas

  • Environmental Law
  • Administrative Law
  • Professional and Occupational Licensing
  • Litigation
  • Appellate
  • Business Disputes
  • Annexation
  • Condemnation/Eminent Domain
  • Freedom of Information
  • Government Law
  • Land Use & Zoning
  • Permitting
  • Procurement
  • Stormwater
  • Tort Claims
  • Utilities
  • Homeowners Association Disputes
  • Privacy & Data Protection
  • HIPAA
  • Non-Profit Governance

A founding partner of Burnette Shutt & McDaniel, Kathleen McDaniel focuses her practice on environmental law, helping businesses large and small obtain the permits they need to get their projects under way.

No matter the case, the client benefits from Kathleen’s combination of legal know-how and a scientific background. She holds a bachelor’s in aquaculture, fisheries and wildlife from Clemson University plus a master’s in forestry with a focus on stream ecology from the University of Georgia.

Public service is the third part of her diverse skillset. She’s a past member of the Richland County Planning Commission and past town attorney for Richburg. Through those experiences, Kathleen gained insight into how agencies balance often-competing interests. Clients with business before similar agencies benefit from that knowledge.

Growing up on a cotton farm in Dillon County, Kathleen learned at an early age the importance of balancing economic and environmental interests. Those lessons were reinforced during her time in the Peace Corps, where she helped local officials create a fisheries management plan that took conservation into account, and deputized local fishermen to arrest poachers.

She helps with a range of issues before local boards and agencies, including:

  • Planning and zoning
  • Wetlands permitting
  • Mining issues
  • Solid and hazardous waste disposal
  • Condemnations
  • Eminent domain
  • Brownfield development

She represents clients in court and before administrative agencies, including the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, the South Carolina Department of Insurance and more. She also has represented clients before state licensing boards.

Kathleen fights to protect clients’ interests on other fronts as well. She’s battled for small businesses, helping them win relief from utility rates. She’s helped neighbors stop a liquor store from moving in. She’s also helped neighbors and businesses reach agreements that have protected the rights of both sides.

Kathleen’s wide-ranging practice also includes government law and general litigation. She’s represented government agencies, too, serving as co-counsel on precedent-setting cases.

Admissions

  • U.S. Supreme Court, 2012
  • U.S. Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit, 2008
  • U.S. District Court, District of South Carolina, 2007
  • South Carolina, 2007

Education

  • University of South Carolina School of Law, juris doctor
  • University of Georgia, master of science in Forestry, with focus on stream ecology
  • Clemson University, bachelor of science in Aquaculture, Fisheries and Wildlife Biology

Associations

  • South Carolina Bar
    • House of Delegates, March 2016 to present
  • Richland County Bar Association
  • South Carolina Women Lawyers Association

Honors & Awards

  • Best Lawyers in America, honored in Administrative / Regulatory Law, 2024-present; honored in Land Use and Zoning Law, 2024-present
  • Legal Elite of the Midlands, 2011-present, environmental law; 2019, energy and utilities law; 2020-present, business litigation
  • South Carolina Super Lawyers, 2025 to present
  • South Carolina Lawyers Weekly, Leadership in Law award, 2018
  • South Carolina Super Lawyers Rising Star, 2013-17
  • Compleat Lawyer Award, Silver Award, University of South Carolina School of Law Alumni Association, 2012
  • Richland County Bar Civic Star Award, 2012
  • South Carolina Bar Leadership Academy, 2013
  • Order of the Coif
  • Order of the Wig and Robe
  • South Carolina Law Review, Associate Student Works Editor Vol. 58, 2006-2007

Representative Cases

  • Posner v. Posner, 383 S.C. 266, 77 S.E.2d 616 (Ct. App. 2009)
  • Stevens & Wilkinson of South Carolina, Inc. v. City of Columbia, 396 S.C. 338, 721 S.E.2d 455 (Ct. App. 2011)

Disclaimer: Any information posted about cases is intended only to be representative of the firm’s practice. These examples are not intended to, and cannot be relied upon, to predict the results in any other case.

Classes/Seminars

  • Presenter, “The United States Supreme Court and the Future of Civil Liberties in America,” South Carolina Bar Convention CLE, January 2023.
  • Panelist, Columbia Museum of Art For Freedoms Town Hall, September 2018.

Burnette Shutt & McDaniel, PA
P.O. Box 1929
Columbia, South Carolina 29202
P 803.850.0912
E info@burnetteshutt.law
© 2025 Burnette Shutt & McDaniel, PA