South Carolina Women Lawyers Association honors Malissa Burnette with Toal Award
Congratulations to Malissa Burnette, whom the South Carolina Women Lawyers Association has honored with its Jean Hoefer Toal Award.
The honor, which the organization rarely bestows, puts Malissa in elite company. The Hon. Jean Hoefer Toal, who was the first woman to serve as South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice, was the first recipient. Elaine Fowler, the first woman to serve as president of the SC Bar, and Inez Moore Tenenbaum, who served as South Carolina’s superintendent of education and later chaired the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, are the only other recipients.
Established in 2014, the SCWLA describes the award as recognizing “professional excellence and notable career achievement characterized by the championship of causes affecting women.” Honorees are “visionaries and pioneers whose careers demonstrate longstanding and groundbreaking public service, commitment to the advancement of women and the cause of justice, as well as a history of leadership in the legal community.”
Malissa, a co-founder of Burnette Shutt & McDaniel, certainly checks every box.
She’s spent a career fighting for women’s causes, including a national landmark case that allowed women to attend state-supported military academies and federal court litigation that cleared the way for girls to play contact sports in South Carolina. She and firm co-founder Nekki Shutt were part of the legal team that paved the way for marriage equality in South Carolina.
Along with firm co-founder Kathleen McDaniel and attorney Grant Burnette LeFever, she’s also part of the legal team defending reproductive rights in South Carolina. The attorneys have spent years battling draconian South Carolina abortion laws in state and federal courts.
A leader in the legal profession as well, she was among founding members of the Women Lawyers Association. Malissa was President of SCWLA in 2001 and chaired its Pay Equity Task Force from 2013-15. She also has served numerous leadership positions in the SC Bar, including her current position as chair of the Pro Bono Committee for the Senior Lawyers Division and as a member of the Judicial Qualifications Committee.
Malissa’s practice includes the full range of civil rights and employment law. She’s also a certified federal court mediator. She’s been a South Carolina Supreme Court Certified Specialist in Labor and Employment Law for 30 years, making her among the longest-tenured attorneys holding that certification.