Graham Lee Newman
Columbia, South Carolina
phone    (803) 252-4848
(866) 706-3997 (Toll Free)
fax    (803) 252-4810
email    Email Me

Graham Newman is originally from Sumter, South Carolina and graduated from Sumter High School in 1997. He attended the University of South Carolina Honors College where he graduated in 2001 with a double major in History and English, magna cum laude. While at USC, Graham also was a three-year letterman in Track and Field and was named an Outstanding Senior and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After graduation, he received the J. Strom Thurmond Scholarship to the University of South Carolina School of Law where he was awarded a Juris Doctor in 2004.

After law school, Graham clerked for the Honorable Howard P. King, Circuit Judge of the Third Judicial Circuit prior to joining the Sumter County Public Defender’s Office. As a public defender, and within one year of becoming a member of the Bar, Graham served as a first chair attorney trying felony indictments to a jury verdict before the South Carolina Court of General Sessions.

Graham joined Richard A. Harpootlian, P.A. in March of 2006. Alongside Dick Harpootlian, he has tried to a verdict many of the firm’s most complex civil and criminal cases in areas such as products liability, insurance bad faith, and major felonies such as murder. Graham is also heavily involved in the firm’s class action and appellate practices, having written briefs and memoranda argued before the South Carolina Court of Appeals, South Carolina Supreme Court, United States District Court, United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and United States Supreme Court.

Representative Cases:

Ward v. Dixie Nat. Life Ins. Co., 595 F.3d 164 (4th Cir. 2010).
Temp. Services, Inc. v. Am. Int'l Group, Inc., 388 S.C. 348, 697 S.E.2d 527 (S.C. 2010).
Bovain v. Canal Ins., 383 S.C. 100, 678 S.E.2d 422 (S.C. 2009).
Edwards v. State, 383 S.C. 82, 678 S.E.2d 412 (S.C. 2009).
Ward v. Dixie Nat. Life Ins. Co., 257 F. App'x. 620 (4th Cir. 2007) (unpublished).

Areas of Practice:
Personal Injury and Wrongful Death
Insurance Disputes
Consumer Protection
Class Actions
Business Litigation
Criminal Defense

Bar Admissions:
State of South Carolina, 2004
United States District Court, District of South Carolina, 2006
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, 2006   
United States Supreme Court, 2008

Education:
University of South Carolina School of Law, Columbia, South Carolina, 2004
J.D.
University of South Carolina Honors College, 2001
Honors: Magna Cum Laude
Major:  History and English