Greenville, S.C. — Wyche Burgess Freeman & Parham, P.A., law firm has announced the naming of a new shareholder of the firm and the addition of two associates, as well as an of counsel attorney. Alice W. W. (Tally) Parham has been invited to be a shareholder in the firm, and Rita Bolt Barker and Meliah Bowers Jefferson have joined the firm as associates. In addition, John L. S. Simpkins has become of counsel with the firm.
Tally Parham joined Wyche as an associate in 2000, served as law clerk to the Honorable Cameron McGowan Currie, United States District Court for the District of South Carolina in 2005, was an associate at Venable LLP in Baltimore for two years before returning to Wyche in 2007. Ms. Parham concentrates her law practice in architectural works copyright infringement litigation, intellectual property, voting rights litigation, whistleblower lawsuits, contract disputes, and product liability. She is a 1992 graduate of Princeton University; she earned her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1996. She was selected by the South Carolina Bar Association as Young Lawyer of the Year in 2004. Ms. Parham is a Major and F-16 Fighter Pilot, U. S. Air Force, 157th Fighter Squadron, South Carolina Air National Guard (1996 to present). She is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003), Operation Southern Watch (2001), and Operation Northern Watch (2000).
Rita Barker joined Wyche as an associate after serving as law clerk to the Honorable Beverly B. Martin, United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, and practicing for two years in the Atlanta office of King & Spaulding, LLP. She concentrates her practice in environmental law, real estate, business litigation and architectural works copyright infringement litigation. Ms. Barker graduated summa cum laude from Clemson University in 2001 and earned her degree from Harvard Law School in 2004, where she was Executive Editor of Harvard Women’s Law Journal.
Meliah Jefferson joined Wyche as an associate after serving as law clerk to the Honorable Jean H. Toal, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Carolina, from 2005 to 2007. Ms. Jefferson concentrates her practice in litigation and appellate work. She is a 2002 magna cum laude graduate of the South Carolina Moore School of Business; she earned her law degree in 2005 from the University of South Carolina School of Law, where she served on the editorial board of the ABA Real Property, Probate, and Trust Journal.
John Simpkins is of counsel to Wyche, concentrating his practice in first amendment law and insurance coverage. Professor Simpkins graduated from Harvard College in 1993 and earned his J.D. and LLM in International and Comparative Law from Duke University School of Law in 1999. He was with Baach Robinson & Lewis PLLC in Washington, DC, for four years. His work has been published extensively in the United States and abroad. He has been associated with the Richard W. Riley Institute at Furman University as a lecturer and associate director and was also an assistant professor of political science at Furman. He is an assistant professor of law and director of diversity initiatives at the Charleston School of Law. Professor Simpkins is a member of the 2009 class of Liberty Fellows.
Wyche is a full service law firm. Its practice includes antitrust and trade regulation, corporate law, securities, taxation, trial and appellate litigation in state and federal court, first amendment and media law, environmental law, health care, class actions, commercial real estate, intellectual property, employee benefits and employment law, economic incentives, insurance practices, estate planning and probate, and alternative dispute resolution.
With offices in Greenville and Columbia, South Carolina, Wyche is the South Carolina member of Lex Mundi, the world’s leading association of independent law firms.
