COLUMBIA, S.C. (September 9, 2014)—The SC Bar Solo and Small Firm Section Council announces that Ken H. Lester has been named the winner of the first Solo and Small Firm Section Award. Mr. Lester will be recognized during the Bar’s Solo and Small Firm Conference and Tech Expo on Friday, September 19, at the Greenville Hyatt Regency.
The Solo and Small Firm Section Award is presented to a sole practitioner or small law firm that has demonstrated service and leadership to the community or to fellow lawyers. Award recipients must display exemplary skill and conduct in his or her practice of law and have made significant contributions of time and talent to the SC Bar, the lawyer's local bar or local community or devoted substantial time and effort to the education and training of fellow solo or small firm lawyers in S.C. The award was created in 2013 in an effort to increase awareness of the value of lawyers in small firms in the state and the legal community. Mr. Lester is the award’s first recipient.
“Ken Lester’s name is synonymous with what is best about our legal profession. When we speak of the SC Bar's collegiality, we mean the courtesy, the generosity and the wisdom reflected by Ken Lester,” said Melissa F. Brown, a family law attorney in Charleston.
Mr. Lester is the founding partner of Lester & Hendrix, LLC with offices in Columbia, Myrtle Beach and Beaufort/Hilton Head. He received his Bachelor of Science in 1963 and Juris Doctor in 1966 from the University of South Carolina. Mr. Lester has dedicated the past 48 years to practicing family law in South Carolina. He regularly speaks and coordinates numerous continuing legal education seminars locally and nationally and routinely serves as a mediator in complex custody or financial cases in the family court.
Mr. Lester writes on various issues dealing with South Carolina family law. He is currently a diplomat in the American College of Family Trial Lawyers and a fellow in the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, where he also served as the president of the South Carolina chapter.
“Throughout his successful career, Ken has demonstrated integrity, intellect and skill. At the same time, he expended time and energy to improve our honorable profession with a special focus on family law, by selfless mentoring of generations of younger members of the Bar,” said Brown. “Ken Lester's outstanding leadership and servant's heart has made our profession a more honorable arena and our lives more enriched. We are all in his debt.”
Mr. Lester is an active member of the SC Bar and a past chair of the Solo and Small Firm Section and the Family Law Section. He also served as the Section Delegate to the SC Bar House of Delegates and regularly teaches the family law portion of the SC Bar Review course for law students.
For more information on the Solo and Small Firm Section, visit www.scbar.org/solo.