John T. Lay, Jr.

Practice Areas

Appellate

Banking & Financial Services

Business & Commercial Litigation

Class Action & Multidistrict Litigation

Drug & Medical Device

Environmental Law

Probate, Trusts & Estate Litigation

Products Liability

Professional Negligence

Securities Litigation & FINRA Arbitration

Toxic & Mass Torts

Career

John T. Lay Jr. is a partner in Gallivan White and Boyd's Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina offices. With more than 25 years of experience managing complex, high-stakes litigation for clients, he has tried over 100 cases to verdict. He has also handled appeals at the SC Court of Appeals, the South Carolina Supreme Court, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. His primary law practices are business litigation, professional malpractice, insurance coverage and bad faith, financial services litigation and product liability. His most notable cases include:

Multimillion-dollar class action suits.

Death and catastrophic injury product claims including pharmaceutical products.

Allegations involving professional negligence of doctors and lawyers.

High-profile business disputes involving corporate and government interests.

Representation of lenders in multiparty financial fraud claims.

Insurance institutional bad faith litigation.

John T. has extensive experience managing product liability litigation throughout the country. He is National Coordinating Counsel for a boat manufacturer. He has litigated business cases throughout the Southeast, and has represented internet companies in business tort claims.

John T. has an interest in cultivating legal talent and has developed a broad background in teaching trial techniques. He has taught trial advocacy at the University of South Carolina School of Law and led the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorney Association (SCDTAA) for four years. In 2009, John T. was a faculty member for the International Association of Defense Counsel’s Trial Academy at Stanford University.

John T. has an exemplary reputation as a service-oriented attorney. Throughout his career, he has acquired the level of understanding necessary to be conscientious of the needs of clients and to continuously exceed their expectations. John T. believes that responsiveness, attention to detail and character will always produce the highest level of client service.

Professional Memberships

American Bar Association

American Board of Trial Advocates South Carolina Chapter, President (2015)

The American Civil Trial Bar Roundtable, Delegate

Association of Defense Trial Attorneys

Council on Litigation Management

Defense Research Institute (DRI)

-Board of Directors (2015 – 2018)

-Commercial Litigation Committee

-Product Liability Committee

Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL)

International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC)

-President (2016 – 2017)

-President-Elect (2015 – 2016)

-Board of Directors (2012 – 2015)

-Chair of the Business Litigation Committee

-Product Liability & Trial Tactics Committees

John B. O’Neill Inn of Court

Lawyers for Civil Justice

-Board of Directors (2015 – 2018)

Litigation Counsel of America, Fellow

Richland County Bar

South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys’ Association (SCDTAA),Past President

Education