Posted in: Lawyers › None, Women's History Month
Susan Barber Hackett is an Appellate Defender with the Office of Appellate Defense, representing individuals in their appeals following criminal convictions and in post-conviction relief matters. She won the President’s Award from the South Carolina Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in 2022. In 2020, she won the Gold Compleat Award from the University of South Carolina School of Law and in 2018, won the Martha Browning Dicus Award from the Public Defender Association for demonstrating remarkable competence, zeal, and adherence to the ideals of the legal profession.
Previously, Susan worked at the Office of Disciplinary Counsel where she investigated and prosecuted lawyers for violations of the Rules of Professional Responsibility. She also served as the Executive Director of the Center of Capital Litigation, a non-profit dedicated to the representation of individuals charged with capital crimes. While an associate at Blume, Weyble & Norris, LLC, she represented criminal defendants in state and federal courts.
Upon graduating from law school, Susan served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Deadra L. Jefferson in the Ninth Circuit. She also taught legal writing at the University of South Carolina School of Law as an adjunct professor for two years.
She graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2003, and from Winthrop University in 2000. Susan serves as a member of the Supreme Court’s Committee on Character and Fitness and the University of South Carolina School of Law’s Pro Bono Program Advisory Council. She is a member of the South Carolina Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and serves as the Secretary-Treasurer for the Education Foundation of the Association’s non-profit organization. She is a regular presenter at Public Defense 101: Fundamentals of the Profession, an annual seminar sponsored by the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense. Susan is an active member of the South Carolina Bar, serving on the Professional Responsibility Committee, the Practice and Procedure Committee and the Trial and Appellate Advocacy Section. She is currently the chair of the Law Related Education Committee.