MG&C Law

Mr. Adams leads the firm's Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Practice Group, and the firm's Appellate Law Practice Group.

In his Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources practice, Mr. Adams appears in state and federal court and before state and federal administrative agencies, including the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the South Carolina Public Service Commission. His practice experience includes the following:

1. Served as lead counsel on the development of a 52 MW biomass renewable energy facility in South Carolina.

2. Acted as lead counsel on the development of a 35 MW biomass renewable energy facility in South Carolina.

3. Worked as lead counsel on the development of a 1 MW solar energy facility in North Carolina.

4. Served as lead counsel on the development of a bio-crude renewable energy production facility in South Carolina.

5. Acted as lead counsel in the South Carolina Supreme Court for the City of Camden, S.C. in a zoning and takings case concerning the historic 6-acre in-town estate “Sarsfield.” The Supreme Court affirmed the City of Camden’s denial of the owner’s request to subdivide the historic property.

6. Worked as lead counsel for a municipal solid waste landfill in its successful efforts to obtain both an SCDHEC permit and zoning approval for an expansion of the landfill.

7. Served as lead counsel to multiple electric cooperatives in environmental litigation.

8. Worked as lead counsel on a natural gas pipeline dispute before the SCPSC.

9. Acted as lead counsel for Mulberry Plantation in its successful attempt to prevent government agencies from widening Highway 521 through the 5000-acre privately-held property. Mulberry Plantation is a Congressionally-designated National Landmark property near Camden, S.C., which was the home of renowned Civil War diarist Mary Boykin Chestnut.

10. Served as lead counsel for three clients in the Carolina Transformer Superfund Site Case.

11. Acted as lead counsel for two clients in the Ward Transformer Superfund Site Case. 12. Worked as lead counsel for a Construction, Demolition and Debris (C&D) landfill in permitting matters before the Richland County Board of Zoning Appeals, and before SCDHEC.

13. Served as lead counsel for a developer proposing pier construction off the coast of South Carolina, in a) zoning matters before a municipal government, and b) in the permitting process before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and SCDHEC.

14. Worked as lead counsel for a sand mine company in a) obtaining a zoning special exception from Richland County, and b) obtaining a SCDHEC permit for the sand mine.

In his Appellate practice, Mr. Adams has been lead counsel in more than 50 appeals in the South Carolina Supreme Court, the South Carolina Court of Appeals, the U.S District Court for the District of South Carolina, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. His noteworthy reported cases include:

1. 377 S.C. 137, 659 S.E. 2d 171, 2008 S.C. App. LEXIS 14

2. 376 S.C. 165, 656 S.E. 2d 346, 2008 S.C. LEXIS 5

3. 374 S.C. 30, 647 S.E. 2d 214, 2007 S.C. LEXIS 261

4. 374 S.C. 516, 649 S.E. 2d 98, 2007 S.C. App. LEXIS 122

5. 372 S.C. 413, 642 S.E. 2d 632, 2007 S.C. App. LEXIS 14

6. 371 S.C. 5, 636 S.E. 2d 862, 2006 S.C. LEXIS 341.

Mr. Adams was educated at the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England and the University of the South (Sewanee) (B.A. 1987). He served as the Society of the Cincinnati’s Scholar to France for 1987, and earned an M.A. in History at the University of Florida, where he was both a Milbauer Fellow and a Grinter Fellow. Mr. Adams received his J.D. (1991) from the University of South Carolina, where he was the Research Editor of the South Carolina Law Review. Mr. Adams is a member of both the South Carolina Bar and the North Carolina State Bar. He is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Mr. Adams has served as a guest columnist for both The State newspaper and The Charleston Mercury newspaper. He formerly served on the board of the Congaree Land Trust and on the board of Historic Camden, in Camden, S.C.

Mr. Adams is chairman of the South Carolina Conservation Bank. He has served on its board since that state agency’s inception in 2004, since which time the Bank has provided state funding for the permanent conservation of more than 156,000 acres of land in South Carolina. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Montessori School of Camden and the Board of Directors of the Springdale Hall Club. He is a member of The French and American Scholars Committee for The Society of The Cincinnati. Further, Mr. Adams is a member of the John Belton O’Neall Inn of Court, a legal honor society. He also is a member of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce's Environmental Technical Committee, as well as the American Bar Association’s Council of Appellate Lawyers.