Labor and employment attorney Melissa Fried Spence has joined Butler Snow LLP, enhancing its successful labor and employment group and growing the firm’s Charleston office.
Spence comes to Butler Snow with 12 years of legal experience building proactive strategies that help clients avoid long and protracted legal disputes involving a variety of labor and employment matters. She has negotiated and tried numerous cases to verdict, representing clients in a wide range of industries, and has represented clients before the South Carolina state and district courts, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S. Department of Labor and South Carolina Human Affairs Commission.
“Melissa’s varied experience and client-first style of practice make her a significant asset to Butler Snow and our clients,” said Christopher R. Maddux, chair of Butler Snow. “We’re excited to have her in our Charleston office and further strengthening our labor and employment practice.”
Spence has been recognized for her exemplary work and commitment to the Charleston community with inclusion in the Charleston Regional Business Journal ‘Forty under 40’ list in 2020. She was also named a South Carolina Rising Stars honoree from 2016 to 2019 and is a graduate of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce Leadership Charleston Class of 2019.
Spence holds a bachelor’s degree with honors from Wofford College and a Juris Doctorate with honors from Charleston School of Law. In her spare time, she serves as general counsel on the Palmetto Society for Human Resource Management board, board member for the Charleston Forum, and is the CLE coordinator for the employment and labor law section for the South Carolina Bar Association. She is also a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel, South Carolina Women Lawyers Association, Young Lawyer Division of South Carolina Bar Association, Charleston County Bar Association and South Carolina Federal Bar Association Chapter.
Butler Snow’s labor and employment attorneys represent private and public sector employers throughout the United States in every aspect of the employment relationship. At the core of the firm’s employment practice is a philosophy that preventive advice and action are the most efficient means for resolving and preventing workplace disputes. Butler Snow excels in providing counseling, training, litigation defense, traditional labor relations representation, and immigration services for employers.
“We are thrilled to have Melissa join our growing labor and employment group,” said Kara E. Shea, Labor and Employment Practice Group Leader at Butler Snow LLP. “We believe she will add tremendous value given her wide breadth of experience in labor and employment matters and her incredible ability to confidently and skillfully represents clients in a wide range of industries.”
The Butler Snow office in Charleston opened in April 2019, marking the firm’s 26th office in a decade of large growth.
