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.”

Catharine Garbee Griffin

DIAL DIRECT NUMBERS

Phone:

803-799-9091
803-343-3863

Fax:

803-779-3423

ADMISSIONS
  • South Carolina Bar, 1987
  • United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, 1987
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 1987
EDUCATION
  • University of South Carolina School of Law
  • J.D., 1987
  • Order of Wig and Robe
  • Dean’s List
  • University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee
  • B.A. English, 1984
JUDICIAL CLERKSHIPS
  • Law Clerk 1988-1989, The Honorable Jean Hoefer Toal
PEER RATING
  • Martindale Hubbell rated AV 5.0/5.0
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
  • Richland County Bar Association
  • John Belton O’Neal Inn of Court (Past President)
  • South Carolina Defense Trial Attorney’s Association
  • Defense Research Institute
  • Member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and the American College of Trial Attorneys.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
  • Volunteer, WA Perry After School Program
  • Liturgy Prep teacher, Trinity Episcopal Church
HONORS AND AWARDS
  • 2017 Bar Register Preeminent Attorney – Listed Lawyer
  • 2017 Top Attorneys in the Midlands
  • 2017 AV Preeminent Attorney
SUPPORT STAFF
“The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare”

Juma/Kangaa, 1989 NYC Marathon Winner

Running and practicing law have a lot in common. After running a marathon a year for more than a decade – including seven Boston Marathons – Catharine has learned that running up hills allows you to relax on the other side; that running the tangents saves steps; that flat terrain can be boring; that various weather conditions — rain, cold, heat — offer some advantage; and that preparation is the key to finishing a race. All of these principles, absorbed during the miles spent on the road running to prepare for a marathon, equally apply to her daily practice as a litigator.

When not running or practicing law, Catharine enjoys the company of her three beautiful daughters, and she hopes to run a marathon with one of them before she is too old.