How to sue your lawyer in South Carolina.

Legal malpractice falls under S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-530(5), which gives three years for an injury to the person or rights of another not arising on contract. Section 15-3-535 adds a statutory discovery rule: the action must be commenced within three years after the person knew or, by the exercise of reasonable diligence, should have known that he had a cause of action. In South Carolina, a legal malpractice suit must be filed within 3 years after the client knew or reasonably should have known of the claim.

Discovery is judged by what a reasonable person would have known, not only what you actually realized. If a court dismissed your case in January 2025 because your lawyer missed a filing deadline, and the dismissal order said so, a court is likely to find you knew or should have known of the claim then, which would put the deadline around January 2028. If the lawyer's error was hidden inside a document you had no reason to question, the clock may start later, when a reasonably careful person would have caught it. Write down the date you first learned each key fact; it will matter.

Appeals toll the clock

In Stokes-Craven Holding Corp. v. Robinson (2016), a business lost a jury verdict and sued its trial lawyer after the verdict was affirmed on appeal. Under the court's 2005 decision in Epstein v. Brown, the clock would have started at the verdict. The Supreme Court overruled Epstein. Under Stokes-Craven Holding Corp. v. Robinson, the statute of limitations for legal malpractice may be tolled if the client appeals the matter in which the malpractice occurred, generally until the appellate court issues the remittitur. The court based the rule on the automatic stay that an appeal creates under the appellate court rules.

No continuous representation rule

The Epstein court declined to adopt the continuous representation rule, and Stokes-Craven chose an appeal-based rule instead of adopting it. So the clock does not simply wait for you to stop working with the lawyer; it runs from discovery, subject to appeal tolling. South Carolina has no separate statute of repose for lawyers. Compare deadlines nationwide on our statute of limitations page.

The South Carolina Supreme Court lists four elements: (1) an attorney-client relationship, (2) a breach of duty by the attorney, (3) damage to the client, and (4) proximate causation of the client's damages by the breach. For litigation mistakes, proving damage and causation usually means the case within a case: showing the underlying matter would have come out better. A loss alone is not malpractice; see what is not legal malpractice.

The expert affidavit requirement

South Carolina's professional negligence statute, S.C. Code Ann. § 15-36-100, lists attorneys at law among the covered professions. In South Carolina, a legal malpractice plaintiff must file an expert witness affidavit with the complaint that specifies at least one negligent act or omission. This is South Carolina's version of a certificate of merit. The statute has three safety valves:

• If the limitations period will expire within ten days, you have 45 days after filing to supplement the complaint with the affidavit.
• No contemporaneous affidavit is needed for a claim involving subject matter within common knowledge and experience.
• If the defense says the affidavit is defective, you can cure it by amendment within 30 days of service of that motion.

The expert must be qualified as to the acceptable conduct of the professional whose conduct is at issue. See our expert witness guide for what that costs.

Many states require a former criminal defendant to be exonerated, or to prove actual innocence, before suing a defense lawyer. We did not find a published South Carolina appellate decision that settles whether South Carolina follows that rule. As of 2026, South Carolina's rule on exoneration in criminal defense malpractice cases is unsettled.

In Stokes-Craven, the court drew an analogy to post-conviction relief, noting that a PCR application must be filed within one year after the conviction, or within one year after the remittitur if there is an appeal. If you are pursuing PCR, get advice on how the malpractice deadline fits alongside it. See criminal defense malpractice and ineffective assistance vs. legal malpractice.

The South Carolina Bar's Resolution of Fee Disputes Board, created by the Supreme Court under Rule 416, SCACR, resolves fee, cost, and disbursement disputes between clients and Bar members. A volunteer lawyer in your circuit investigates, tries to mediate, and makes a recommendation; a three-member hearing panel can review it, and for claims over $7,500 an appeal to a panel is available regardless. Decisions of the South Carolina Resolution of Fee Disputes Board are binding, and the Board will not consider claims of $50,000 or more or claims more than 3 years old. Our fee arbitration guide explains how to prepare.

The Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection, established by the Supreme Court and administered by the SC Bar, is South Carolina's client protection fund. It reimburses losses from a lawyer's dishonest conduct, but only where the lawyer has been disbarred or suspended, resigned, died, disappeared, or is otherwise out of reach. The fund's published rules cap payments at $40,000 per client and $200,000 per lawyer, and applications must be received within 3 years of discovering the dishonest conduct and no more than 6 years after it. See how client protection funds work.

South Carolina does not require lawyers to carry malpractice insurance. Read does your lawyer have malpractice insurance.

The SC Bar does not license, investigate, or discipline lawyers. Complaints go to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel of the Supreme Court of South Carolina, which reviews, investigates, and prosecutes lawyer misconduct before the Commission on Lawyer Conduct. The office reports receiving roughly 1,800 to 2,200 complaints a year against lawyers and judges combined, and not every complaint involves misconduct within its jurisdiction. For lower-level problems, such as a lawyer who is hard to reach, the Bar's Client Assistance Program may help.

A bar grievance can lead to discipline, but it does not pay you damages or pause the three-year malpractice clock. See legal malpractice vs. a bar complaint.

1. Mark the discovery date. Three years runs from when you knew or should have known of the claim.
2. If you appealed, note the remittitur date. That is often when the tolling ends.
3. Find an expert before filing. The affidavit goes in with the complaint.
4. Get your file. See how to get your case file from your lawyer.

If you think your lawyer's mistake cost you, a free case review takes about two minutes and can connect you with an independent attorney in South Carolina who handles legal malpractice claims.