Location: Myrtle Beach
Phone: 843-438-5561
Fax: 843-361-7048

Abby Edwards Saunders is a member of the Maguire Law Firm Pre-Litigation and Litigation Teams. Her practice focuses on Mediation; Complex Tort Litigation; Construction Defect Litigation; Transportation and Trucking; Motor Vehicle Accidents; Premises Liability; and Nursing Home Abuse in the firm’s North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach offices. Abby is certified as a Circuit Court Mediator by the South Carolina Board of Arbitrator and Mediator Certification.

Prior to joining Maguire Law Firm, Abby practiced law in the private sector as a Partner and Associate where she was involved in Complex Product Liability Litigation involving the Aviation, Pharmaceutical and Automotive Industries on a local, regional and national level. For the past five years, she was a Partner at a highly respected Regional Defense Firm.

Abby was a Legal Educator for many years at the Charleston School of Law, where she served as the Dean of Students, Director of Lawyering Skills & Professional Development and the Title IX Coordinator. In addition to her Deanship, Saunders taught Advanced Civil Procedure; Aviation Law; Critical Practice Skills and Law Practice Management & Economics. She has made numerous presentations on legal education across the country. One of her most beloved jobs was serving as a Federal Law Clerk to the Honorable David C. Norton, United States District Judge for the District of South Carolina.

Saunders is a Summa Cum Laude and First Honor Graduate of the College of Charleston where her peers elected her Student Body President. She earned her law degree With Honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the North Carolina Journal of International Law & Commercial Regulation. She was also inducted into the Davis Society at UNC, a prestigious honor afforded to a few that recognizes “integrity, leadership, dedication, and service.” Abby has an Executive LLM in Taxation from NYU (New York University).

In 2019, Abby was appointed by the Supreme Court to the South Carolina Board of Bar Examiners. In 2022, the South Carolina Bar Board of Governors appointed her to serve as a Fifteenth Circuit Delegate in the House of Delegates.

She serves as Immediate Past President of the Horry County Bar Association; Immediate Past President of the Coastal American Inn of Court; and has served on the South Carolina Bar Judicial Qualifications Committee.

Abby and her husband, Mark, love living in Horry County, traveling, listening to live music, offshore fishing, and spending time at the beach and on the water with family and friends. Abby is a Yoga Alliance Certified Yoga Teacher and enjoys teaching Yoga at her Yoga Studio (Coastal Bliss Yoga and Wellness) in North Myrtle Beach. She also teaches Power Yoga on the Beach.

Education

• New York University (Executive LLM in Taxation)
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (JD, With Honors)
• College of Charleston (Summa Cum Laude, First Honor Graduate)

Professional Memberships

• American Bar Foundation (Lifetime Fellow)
• American Inns of Court (Fourth Circuit Advisory Council)
• Appointed by the Supreme Court to the South Carolina Board of Bar Examiners (2019-Present)
• Charleston County Bar Association (Executive Board, 2008-2015)
• Coastal American Inn of Court (2014- Present: President (2020-2022), Charter & Founding Member, Executive Board)
• Coastal Women Lawyers Association
• Horry County Bar Association (2021: President; Executive Board: 2017-Present)
• James L. Petigru Inn of Court (Charter & Founding Member; Executive Board, 2009-2017)
• Junior League of the Grand Strand (Founding Member)
• Sir Francis Drake Admiralty Inn of Court (Charter & Founding Member)
• South Carolina Bar Association
• South Carolina Bar Judicial Qualifications Committee (2019)
• South Carolina Bar Foundation (Charleston CLE Fundraising Host Committees, 2012-2013)
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Alumni Association (Lifetime Member)

Bar Admissions

• 1999 South Carolina
• 2001 United States District Court, District of South Carolina
• 2002 United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit

Certifications

• Circuit Court Mediation (South Carolina Board of Arbitrator and Mediator Certification)

Awards

• American Bar Foundation (Lifetime Fellow)
• Paul Harris Fellow
• Riley Institute (Diversity Fellow)
• Adjunct Professor of the Year (Charleston School of Law)
• Golden Rule Award for Community Service
• Editor-in-Chief of the North Carolina Journal of International Law & Commercial Regulation
• Inducted into the Davis Society, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Honorary Envoy to Toyama, Japan
• Fifteenth Circuit Delegate in the South Carolina Bar House of Delegates

Community Involvement

• Rotary Club of Charleston (Executive Board & Club Service Chair, 2014-2015)
• Grand Strand Homeless Justice Project (Co-Founder, Board of Directors 2021-Present)
• Charleston Homeless Justice Project (Co-Founder, Volunteer, Legal Clinic Advisory Board 2005-2014)
• Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation (Advisory Committee Chair 2012-2014; Strategic Planning Committee; Commitment to Justice Host Committee, 2012)
• College of Charleston Alumni Board (Vice President, 2007-2008; Chair, Alumni Scholarship Committee)
• Big Landing (Board of Directors, 2014-2016)
• Ocean Drive Elementary School (Mock Trial Club Volunteer 2015)