Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

Gary Christmas is a senior partner in the law firm of Howell & Christmas, LLC. His practice is dedicated to protecting the rights of the injured and their families including representing those injured on the job under the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Act, the Federal Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, Defense Base Act, as well as negligence from DUI and other automobile accidents, with retail stores, bars, hotels, landlords and apartments, wrongful death and all other cases where there are victims who suffer injuries caused by the negligence of others. Gary is in his 14th year of practice and takes great pride in developing meaningful relationships and partnerships with his clients, doctors, other lawyers and other professionals. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Government, cum laude, from the University of South Carolina where he received the University Scholars Award for exhibited academic excellence. During law school, Mr. Christmas was a research assistant to Professor John Montgomery, former Dean of the South Carolina School of Law, and worked with him and Professor David G. Owen, co-author of Prosser and Keeton on Torts, on their case book Products Liability & Safety (3rd ed.). He also worked as a research assistant for Professor Jon P. Thames on his book South Carolina Criminal Defense (3rd ed.) and received the American Jurisprudence Award for Damages and for Interviewing, Negotiating and Counseling. He is a member of the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Education Association, the Workers' Compensation Section of the South Carolina Bar, where he serves a Council Member, the Workers'Injury Law and Advocacy Group (WILG) where he serves on the State Legislative Committee and the South Carolina Injured Workers' Advocates (IWA) where he serves as Secretary of the organization and as Chairman of the Brief Bank Committee. He is a member of the American Association of Justice, the South Carolina Association of Justice, the United States Supreme Court Historical Society and the Small Business Chamber of Commerce. He is also a member of the South Carolina Bar and Charleston County Bar Associations and serves as a Mentor for the Lawyer Mentoring Pilot Program. Mr. Christmas is admitted to practice law before the South Carolina Bar, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. He is also a Certified Circuit Court Mediator, has tried more than 200 cases, concentrating on legally complex issues, and has represented numerous clients in appellate practice including several appearances before the South Carolina Appeals Courts. Appellate decisions include: Lance v. Hawke v. Pat Mellen and Hurricane Restoration Fund, Employer, and South Carolina Uninsured Employers' Fund, (Ct. App. 1998, Unpublished); Jennifer Lynn Christmas and Jay Christmas v. Dale Eugene Enos, Jr, and A Rainbow of Carpets, Inc., (Ct. App. 2008, Unpublished); Otis W. Snipe v. SSA Cooper, LLC (Ct App. 2010, Unpublished); and Regina Rainey v. Nestle Frozen Foods and Constitution State Service Company, (S.C. Circuit Court 2003). The Rainey case was cited as one of the fifty most important court decisions for 2003 by Lawyers Weekly Newspaper.

Trip was born and raised in Charleston, SC. He graduated from the College of Charleston (B.A., 1992) and from Golden Gate University School of Law in California (J.D., 1999).

In 1998, Trip was selected into the Honors Program with the Department of Justice as a third year law student where he worked for the U.S. Attorneyâs Office in San Francisco and had the unique opportunity to prosecute cases in the drugs, guns and explosives unit.

After graduation and upon passing the California Bar, Trip worked in the legal department of Siebel Systems, Inc. in Silicon Valley where he negotiated and managed multi-million dollar software license contracts and handled intellectual property and litigation matters involving S&P 500 companies.

Upon returning to South Carolina in 2003 and passing the South Carolina Bar, Trip joined the Riesen Law Firm, LLP where he spent the next five (5) years handling Auto Accident cases, Workers' Compensation and Family Law.

Trip also gained valuable firsthand experience in eminent domain law after a personal experience when the Town of Mount Pleasant decided to fill in a portion of his neighborhood's lake to build a road. Trip successfully negotiated a compromise with the Town and developers, and the road was re-routed away from his neighborhood's lake. If a government agency is either physically taking your property or re-zoning or regulating your property which adversely affects the value of your property please contact Trip Riesen.

In 2008, Trip took action to substantially expand his legal skills. For the next three years, he focused his energy on criminal law and went to work for the Ninth Circuit Solicitorâs Office in Charleston. As a Managing Assistant Solicitor, he prosecuted a wide assortment of cases, from serious felonies such as murder, armed robbery, kidnapping, drug trafficking etcâ¦to less severe cases such as fraud, simple assaults, simple possession of drugs and DUI's.

Trip was a tough but fair prosecutor who not only secured hundreds of guilty pleas but also spent considerable time in court trying cases. In 2010, out of 31 Assistant Solicitors, Trip had the most cases called for trial. Trip's experience as a prosecutor has given him a unique insight into how the system works through the "prosecutor's eyes." This experience is a tremendous asset to his clients in representing defendants in all types of criminal prosecutions.

Trip is now back at the Riesen Law Firm LLP practicing in all areas of criminal defense, plaintiff's personal injury, workers' compensation, family law and eminent domain/condemnation land use law.