John McCants

DIAL DIRECT NUMBERS

Phone:

803-343-3866

Fax:

803-779-3423

ADMISSIONS
  • South Carolina Bar (1987 to present)
  • United States 4th Circuit Court of Appeals
  • United States District Court, District of South Carolina
  • United States Bankruptcy Court, District of South Carolina
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
  • Richland County Bar Association (Past President)
  • South Carolina Bankruptcy Law Association (Past President).
  • Defense Research Institute (DRI) (Past DRI Construction Law Committee Steering Comm)
EDUCATION
  • University of South Carolina School of Law, Juris Doctor May 1987
  • Washington and Lee University, B.A. May 1984
HONORS AND AWARDS
  • Best Lawyers in America® (Construction Litigation, Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law and Bankruptcy Litigation) (2010-2025)
  • South Carolina Super Lawyers® (Construction Litigation) (2009-2014 and 2018-2024)
  • AV Preeminent Rating® Martindale-Hubbell®
SUPPORT STAFF

I have actively practiced in the civil litigation area of law since August of 1988. In my first five years of practice, I represented creditors and debtors in numerous commercial and consumer cases and appeared regularly before the United States Bankruptcy Court (SC), South Carolina circuit courts and Masters-In-Equity. Since 1993, I have continued to practice in the bankruptcy and commercial law area but have practiced primarily in the construction litigation area including insurance coverage, appearing in non-jury, jury, mediation, and arbitration proceedings. I have appeared in each of the judicial circuits in South Carolina and have litigated numerous construction cases, mostly as counsel for a defendant contractor. The cases include disputes involving construction defects, sureties, design, products liability, developer rights and mechanic liens and have involved the construction of hotels, school buildings, churches, government buildings, commercial buildings, multi-family and single-family homes. I have also represented insurers in numerous suits concerning commercial general liability insurance and business property and casualty insurance. During my years of practice, I have appeared before South Carolina circuit courts, the South Carolina Supreme Court, the South Carolina Court of Appeals, the United States District Court (SC) and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Michal Kalwajtys

DIAL DIRECT NUMBERS

Phone:

803-343-3872

Fax:

803-779-3423

ADMISSIONS
  • South Carolina Bar, 2013
  • United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, 2014
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 2015
EDUCATION
  • University of South Carolina School of Law, J.D., 2012
  • American Institute for Paralegal Studies, Paralegal Certificate, 2004
  • Nicolaus Copernicus University, Faculty of Law and Administration, Torun, Poland
    • Magister Prawa (Juris Doctor Equivalent), 2002
  • University of Cambridge, England, Board of Continuing Education, Diploma in an Introduction to English Law and the Law of the European Union, 2001
SUPPORT STAFF

Michal Kalwajtys joined Baker Ravenel & Bender following its merger with the firm of Dougall & Collins where he had practiced insurance defense for seven years.

Michal’s J.D. from the University Of South Carolina School Of Law is actually his second law degree. In 2002, he earned a law degree at a university in his native Poland.

Michal first visited the United States in the summer of 1997; he worked as a camp counselor in Pennsylvania. Michal returned to the same camp during the next three summers, eventually meeting there a counselor from Florida, who would become his wife. He immigrated to the United States after they married and he finished law school in Poland. Following the birth of his son in Columbia in 2010, and having become US citizen in 2016, Michal is now firmly rooted in South Carolina and proud to call it home.

Michal spends most of his free time playing guitar and violin. Since his high school days, he has been a rock and metal guitarist. Over nearly three decades, Michal has performed several hundred shows in dozens of venues throughout South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and in and around his hometown of Torun, Poland. You can still see him perform from time to time with his heavy metal band “Bona Lisa.”

S. Markey Stubbs

DIAL DIRECT NUMBERS

Phone:

803-799-9091
803-343-3864

Fax:

803-779-3423

ADMISSIONS
  • South Carolina Bar, 1986
  • U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, 1987
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 1987
EDUCATION
  • University of South Carolina School of Law, J.D., 1986
  • Clemson University, B.S., Administrative Management, 1983
CERTIFICATION/SPECIALTIES
  • Certified Court Mediator and Arbitrator
PEER RATING
  • Martindale Hubbell rated AV 5.0/5.0
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
  • Phi Alpha Delta
  • Richland County Bar Association
  • American Bar Association
  • South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys’ Association
  • Defense Research Institute
  • South Carolina Council for Mediation and Arbitration
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
  • Board of Directors, former Chairman, Executive Board, PALSS (1999-2012)
  • Sponsor Torch Cabaret (2008-2017)
  • Sponsor Orange Party (2009-2012)
  • Community Impact Award – United Way – 2005
HONORS AND AWARDS
  • 2017 Bar Register Preeminent Attorney – Listed Lawyer
  • 2017 Top Attorneys in the Midlands
  • 2017 AV Preeminent Attorney
SUPPORT STAFF
A former gym rat and instructor at Gold’s Gym, Strong Hold, and YMCA, Markey is now content with weight training and a much reduced cycling schedule to Personally Fit and occasionally across town to the office.