Jim Irvin is a partner practicing in the Columbia office in the areas of product liability, class action defense, and complex business litigation. He also counsels clients on electronic discovery issues, including litigation preparedness. A member of the South Carolina Bar, Mr. Irvin is admitted to practice before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina. He has been admitted pro hac vice in federal courts in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee. 

Product Liability and Consumer Class Action Defense

Mr. Irvin has extensive experience defending product liability claims and has represented manufacturers of automobiles, motorcycles, personal watercraft, all-terrain vehicles, industrial lifts, forestry equipment, recreational products, exercise equipment, ladders and scaffolding, children's products, allegedly adulterated foods, and other types of consumer products. He has tried cases to verdict in state and federal court and developed significant experience with complex medical causation, accident reconstruction, and engineering issues. He has used this experience to develop effective strategies for excluding the opinion testimony of opposing expert witnesses.

Mr. Irvin also has defended numerous class actions alleging economic harm arising from allegedly defective products and alleged misrepresentations by manufacturers. In one such case, Mr. Irvin obtained a denial of class certification in a jurisdiction that, at the time, was regarded by the American Tort Reform Association as one of the nation's ten toughest environments for defendants in civil liability cases.

Mr. Irvin has represented pharmaceutical manufacturers in cases involving anti-depressants and cough and cold medications. These engagements included serving as coordinating counsel for document discovery and managing hundreds of cases from a five-state region in Multi-District Litigation. In this engagement, Mr. Irvin worked with local counsel and other Firm attorneys to obtain successful dismissals of the vast majority these cases through aggressive discovery and motions practice.

Complex Business Litigation

Mr. Irvin has represented businesses in disputes arising from a variety of business relationships. These include representation of a steel manufacturer for lost production arising from the failure of an industrial transformer, representation of a galvanizing company for lost production arising from the failure of a galvanizing pit cover, defense of a lending institution in claims arising from allegedly unauthorized transactions through an internet-based product, defense of a software developer against claims arising from a joint development agreement, and defense of claims brought under the Unfair Trade Practices Act and Trade Secrets Act in a variety of business contexts. These engagements have involved complex economic, accounting, and business-environment issues as well as unique issues arising under the Uniform Commercial Code.

Electronic Discovery and Litigation Preparedness

Mr. Irvin counsels a number of Firm clients on electronic discovery issues, and serves on a team of four attorneys who advise one of the nation's leading consumer product manufacturers on electronic discovery issues. Mr. Irvin's experience also includes defending manufacturers against nationwide, coordinated attempts by the plaintiffs bar to gain direct access to sensitive and privileged enterprise databases. He has managed the collection, review, and production of millions of pages of documents, including electronically stored information, for a variety of manufacturers, transportation companies, and computer services organizations. This work included the creation of electronic databases that enabled the effective management of litigation pending in multiple jurisdictions, but involving the same products or events.

Professional Associations and Community Involvement

Mr. Irvin chairs the Product Liability Committee for the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys Association. He also served on the Leadership Council of the Torts and Insurance Practice Section of the South Carolina Bar. He is a member of the Defense Research Institute's Electronic Discovery Committee and the Litigation and Business Sections of the American Bar Association.

Over the past two years, Mr. Irvin has led the Firm's United Way Campaign for the Columbia Office, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for local charities. Mr. Irvin participates in many other fundraising events for the United Way of the Midlands and has coordinated Firm activity in those events.

Education and Publications

In 1990, Mr. Irvin earned Bachelor of Arts degrees Economics and English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1994, Mr. Irvin earned a J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he served as editor in chief of the South Carolina Environmental Law Journal and was a member of the Order of Wig and Robe. In 1991, he received the American Jurisprudence Award in Constitutional Law.