South Carolina attorney Ed Bell founded Bell Legal Group more than 40 years ago. With offices in Georgetown and Raleigh, NC, he focuses his practice on a variety of cases that range from medical malpractice, personal injury, automobile safety and defects, product liability, environmental law, police misconduct, and prison abuse.
During his 40-year career as a South Carolina lawyer, Ed Bell has distinguished himself as a top litigation attorney at local, state, and national levels through his ability to relate to jurors and explain the difficult aspects of complex litigation matters. His experience put him at the forefront of jury research, when he was involved in the initial founding of the Arvada Jury Project, a research project that analyzed the impact of trial lawyers and jury attitudes. This project drastically changed the way trial attorneys present their cases to juries.
Ed’s unique approach to litigation also led him to establish a research center at his firm headquarters in Georgetown. Through his experience as a South Carolina trial attorney, Ed developed this center to assist Bell Legal Group attorneys with unraveling the technical intricacies in a case and transforming them into a story that can be easily told to jurors. In the center, engineers, researchers, and support staff follow cases from beginning to end, exploring a case’s complex facts, researching medical topics, investigating defects in automobiles, building trial exhibits, and untangling the complex nature of each issue surrounding malpractice, personal injury, and accident cases.
Ed has been named as lead council in numerous civil complex litigation cases throughout the United States and brings a unique perspective along with strong litigation experience. He has tried more than 400 cases nationally and throughout the state.
Ed, a native of Sumter, lives in Georgetown, where he enjoys spending time with his wife, five children and seven grandchildren.
Distinctions, Awards and Honors:
- 1963 Eagle Scout with Silver Eagle Palm
- Awarded God & Country | Induction in the Order of the Arrow
- Boy Scouts of America Coastal Council | National Eagle Scout Association:
- Outstanding Eagle Scout Award Recipient (2018)
- Order of Palmetto from South Carolina Governor, Henry McMaster (2021)
- Awarded Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes (2015)
- Martindale Hubbell AV Preeminent | Highest Possible Rating in Both Legal Ability and Ethical Standards (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021)
- American Trial Lawyers Association | Top 100 Trial Attorneys (2007, 2019, 2020, 2021)
- Best Lawyers in America (2013, 2016, 2017)
- SC Lawyers Weekly Leadership in Law Award(2010)
- National Association of Distinguished Counsel Nation’s Top One Percent (2015, 2016)
- The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021. 2022)
- America’s Most Honored Professionals (2019) The American Registry
- America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators and Personal Injury Attorneys (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022) America Top 100, LLC
- US News and World Report Best Law Firms in South Carolina
- (2012, 2015, 2017, 2019)
- Top Lawyers of South Carolina, as published in Columbia Living
- (2012, 2015, 2016, 2020)
- Featured on ABC 2020 and Court TV
- Authored Camp Lejeune Justice Act (2022)
- ‘Top 10 Environmental Trial Lawyer’ by National Trial Lawyers (2020 - Present)
- Rue Ratings’ Best Attorneys of America Lifetime Member (2016)
- (Rue Ratings’ Best Attorneys of America is one of the most celebrated and respected groups of attorneys in the country. Membership is extremely selective, carefully screened and limited to the most qualified and accomplished attorneys in the US. With these high standards, less than one percent (1%) of the attorneys in America have been invited to be a member)
Professional Associations:
- American Bar Association
- American Association for Justice
- Federal Bar Association
- South Carolina Association for Justice (Former Board Member)
- South Carolina Bar Association
- Charleston School of Law, President, and Chairman of the Board (2015-Present)
- The Inner Circle of Advocates Member (August 2017 - Present)
- (The Inner Circle of Advocates, is an invitation-only group with membership limited to 100 of the best plaintiff trial lawyers in the United States)
- TMS Global, Board of Directors (20 + years)
- Garden & Gun Magazine, Chairman of the Board (2010-Present)
- The Litchfield Company, Chairman of the Board (2011-Present)
- Charleston City Paper, Chairman of the Board (2019-Present)
- Boy Scouts of America | Coastal Carolina Council Executive Board Member (2017-Present)
- Georgetown County Bar President (2021, 2022)
- Rotarian Member (2015-Present)
- Former Board Member of Richmont Graduate University
- The Class Action Trial Lawyers Member (2012)
- IR Global | South Carolina Environmental Law Member (2023)
Bar & Court Admissions:
- South Carolina Supreme Court
- U.S. District Court, Court of South Carolina
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
