About Mark D.
Mark D. Chappell built a career that threads through trial rooms, committee meetings and courtroom strategy. He grew up academically focused; he earned a Bachelor of Science in finance and economics from the University of South Carolina in 1981 and returned to Columbia to receive his J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1984. Those credentials set the stage for a long run in plaintiff-side civil litigation.
Soon after law school he moved into practice and over the years helped establish Chappell, Chappell and Newman, where he remains a founding partner. The firm has been a base for trial work and for coordinating multi-party litigation. Chappell’s name appears on leadership rosters for several coordinated proceedings. He served as Plaintiffs’ Liaison Counsel in the In Re Graniteville cases and has been appointed chair of a Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in complex matters.
Those leadership roles reflect how peers have asked him to organize and manage litigation that spans jurisdictions and stakeholders. He is admitted to practice in South Carolina, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and in the District of Columbia. The combination of courtroom work and case-management duties has also led him to develop formal training in dispute resolution; he is a certified mediator by the South Carolina Supreme Court.
Chappell’s involvement in professional groups is extensive. He holds membership in the South Carolina Bar and has been active in the South Carolina Association for Justice, where he once served as president. At the national level he sits on the Board of Governors of the American Association for Justice and is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He is also part of the Lawyers Information Exchange Group and the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. These affiliations track with a practice that includes trial preparation and coordination of large, plaintiff-led matters.
Colleagues describe him as steady in complex settings. He handles the administrative side of multi-district or multi-party claims as readily as he does trial preparation. The mediation credential adds another tool for resolving disputes short of trial when circumstances allow.
He continues to practice at Chappell, Chappell and Newman, where his work centers on civil litigation and plaintiffs’ trial work.
