Wallace K. Lightsey

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Appellate Advocacy

First Amendment

Intellectual Property

Internal Investigations

Litigation

Media and Communications

Real Estate Litigation

Shareholder Oppression

Wallace is an experienced trial and appellate attorney, with over 60 jury trials in state and federal courts throughout the Southeast, and approximately 100 bench trials, jury trials, and arbitration trials, as well as numerous appeals in the South Carolina appellate courts and the United States Courts of Appeals for the First, Fourth, Sixth, and Eleventh Circuits. His practice involves complex securities, corporate, and intellectual property cases, as well as news media and First Amendment disputes. In the area of First Amendment litigation, he has represented Facebook Inc., Time Inc., NBC, The New York Times Company, Forbes, The Associated Press, and Pulitzer Broadcasting, as well as many local and state newspapers and broadcasters. He also has deep experience litigating disputes over intellectual property — such as trademark, copyright, and trade secrets — and in recent years has been lead counsel in copyright lawsuits involving close to a billion dollars at issue.

In 2004, he was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers, an organization composed of a small percentage of the best trial attorneys in the U.S. and Canada. And in 2019, he was inducted into the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, the most prestigious group of appellate practitioners in the country.

Wallace is actively involved in matters of professional ethics, and served as the Chair of the South Carolina Commission on Lawyer Conduct from 1997 through 2004.

Building on his substantial trial and courtroom experience, Wallace has been certified by the American Arbitration Association to its Roster of Neutrals for commercial arbitration, and has served as panel chair, panel member, and sole arbitrator in a number of arbitrations involving large, complex disputes as well as relatively simple ones. Unlike many judges, Wallace likes helping to resolve discovery disputes and is available for appointment as a special discovery master in lawsuits where the parties anticipate having to deal with difficult discovery matters.

American Law Institute, Member, 2025

American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, Fellow, 2019

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, 2016

U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 2011

Certified Member of the American Arbitration Association Roster of Neutrals

South Carolina Bar Foundation, President, 2011-12; Director, 2008-2011

Wyche Executive Committee, Chair, 2007-2013

American College of Trial Lawyers, Fellow, 2004

South Carolina Commission on Lawyer Conduct, Chairman, 1997-2004

American Bar Association Foundation, Fellow

U.S. Supreme Court, 1991

South Carolina Bar Association House of Delegates

South Carolina Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline, 1993-97

South Carolina Fee Disputes Resolution Board

South Carolina Bar Association Committees: Ethics Advisory Committee; Professional Responsibility Committee; Professionalism Committee; Continuing Legal Education Committee

South Carolina Secretary of State Blue Ribbon Committee on Corporations

U.S. District Court, District of South Carolina, 1988

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 1988

South Carolina Bar, 1986

Wallace has been handling copyright infringement litigation for about 30 years. Since the early 1990s, he has handled all of ASCAP’s copyright enforcement litigation in South Carolina. Over the past 20 years, he has represented the nation’s two leading house plan designers, Donald A. Gardner Architects, Inc., and Frank Betz Associates, Inc., in architectural copyright litigation. In most of these cases he served in the role of lead attorney, working with other Wyche attorneys.

Wallace has also handled a number of trade secrets and trademark infringement cases, though not nearly as many as in the copyright area. One trade secrets case, Woven Electronics v. Advanced Wire Co., resulted in a multi-million dollar verdict for Wyche’s client after a two-week trial, and the verdict was affirmed on appeal to the Fourth Circuit. Two trademark cases that involved significant discovery and motions before eventually settling were Lowe Wild Dunes v. Ravenel Associates, a dispute over the use of the “Wild Dunes” name in beach property rentals and management in the Charleston region, and Avado Brands v. Blue Ridge Brewing Co., a dispute over the “HOPS” name in connection with restaurants, bars, and breweries.

Along with Wyche attorneys Henry Parr and Bill Wilson, Wallace represented Cisco Systems in a complex case brought by a terminated reseller of Cisco networking hardware. The case was litigated to entry of judgment in favor of Cisco, and that judgment was successfully defended on appeal to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Wallace defended Forbes magazine in a substantial libel suit brought in federal court in South Carolina concerning an article about the promoter of the “Southern Connector” highway outside of Greenville. He obtained summary judgment for Forbes, which the Fourth Circuit affirmed.

Wallace was lead counsel for Carolina First Corporation and its officers and directors in a shareholder derivative suit. He won a motion dismissing the suit on the pleadings for failure to meet the pre-suit demand requirement, which was affirmed by the South Carolina Court of Appeals in what is now the leading South Carolina appellate opinion on the pre-suit demand requirement in shareholder derivative suits.

Harvard Law School