Robert H. Brunson is a partner of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP in Charleston leading a large team of diverse legal talent spanning several of the Firm’s offices.  He is experienced as trial counsel in a wide range of complex litigation areas typically involving high risk/high reward client challenges in state and federal courts, as well as arbitration.   

Recent Litigation experience includes: 

• Representation of a large appliance manufacturer as a plaintiff in the recovery of business losses from a component part supplier through multi-year litigation in Cook County, Illinois.
• Trial counsel for a major petroleum company in a class action brought on behalf of service stations alleging environmental property damage from leaking underground storage tanks.
• Trial counsel for the audit committee of the board of a large publicly traded corporation sued in a federal securities fraud class action.
• Defense of a Brazilian product manufacturer sued for fraud and contribution relating to alleged defects in compressors.
• Class and derivative suit counsel for plaintiff property owners suing board of directors of a homeowners’ association and others for unlawful conduct causing damage to property values.
• Defense of defendants accused of breach of trust in South Carolina state court.
• Independent Counsel leading internal investigation of allegations relating to employment discrimination at a major corporation.
• Representation of a trustee in efforts to recover funds misappropriated from a family trust.
• Defense of automotive and recreational product manufacturers in products liability litigation.
• Appellate counsel after major product manufacturer experienced a multi-million dollar adverse judgment in Maryland.
• Defense counsel for major corporation sued in Arizona for alleged antitrust violations.
• Counsel for four small business owners suing the seller of defective ice machines in federal court.
• Trial and appellate counsel for a developer seeking permission to build a bridge to an island. 

Mr. Brunson has many years of experience in the application of formal project management techniques to the practice of law.  He uses customized, proprietary project management tools to provide forecasting, reporting, fixed fee accounting, litigation timelines, and formal “risk analysis” to clients.  This project management system gives clients greater predictability in the cost and timing of complex litigation.  Mr. Brunson has been engaged in formal project management on behalf of sophisticated clients for a decade.  His project management team includes experienced legal project managers, including a Six Sigma Black Belt recipient.  Mr. Brunson is a member of the Project Management Institute -- Legal Project Management Community of Interest.  He also serves on the Customer Advisory Board for Lexis-Nexis. 

Mr. Brunson is a native of Allendale, South Carolina, and has prior work experience in both print and broadcast journalism. Educated at Emory University (Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science, 1984) and the University of South Carolina Law School (Juris Doctor, 1988), Mr. Brunson is the former Editor in Chief of the South Carolina Law Review. In law school, Mr. Brunson was a member of the Order of the Coif, the Order of Wig and Robe, and the James Belton O’Neall Inn of Court.  Mr. Brunson served a judicial clerkship for the Honorable Karen L. Henderson, formerly Federal District Judge of the District of South Carolina and now Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. 

A member of the State Bar of Georgia and the South Carolina Bar, Mr. Brunson is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits, and the U.S. District Courts for Middle Georgia, Northern Georgia and South Carolina. He is also a member of Outstanding Lawyers of America, the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association, the Defense Research Institute, and the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys’ Association. Mr. Brunson is an adjunct professor at the Charleston School of Law where he teaches trial advocacy.

As a part of his lifelong commitment to educational issues relating to disadvantaged youth, Mr. Brunson served as the 2008-2009 Chairman of the Board of the Boys and Girls Club of America – Trident Area.  He is a founding member and the 2011-2012 President of the James L. Pettigru Inn of Court in Charleston and is a former Chairman of the Nelson Mullins Recruiting Committee and Associates Committee.