Attorneys & Law in Greenville County: A History

For more than two hundred years, lawyers and judges, many of them colorful and powerful personalities, have practiced law and maintained order in Greenville County. In the nineteenth century, Judges Richard Gantt and Waddy Thompson began the tradition of Upstate justice. At the time of the Civil War, Benjamin Perry and his colleagues argued fiercely about secession. Recently, local attorneys and judges, both black and white, have struggled with integration and civil rights issues. History is dotted with legal dynasties; individual practioners like Miss Jim Perry and John Bolt Culbertson; and judges, including J. Robert Martin and Frank Eppes, who have played significant roles in Upstate law. Author Judith Bainbridge details the impact and personalities of law and lawyers in Greenville County.