Bernard Vernon Kearse III

Bernard V. Kearse, III, graduated from Wofford College in 1972, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.  Mr. Kearse received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1976, where he served as an editor for the South Carolina Law Review, and received a master’s degree in Estate Planning from the University of Miami in 1977. Prior to starting his own firm, he practiced with national law firms and served as the Employee Benefits Counsel for a Fortune 200 company with approximately 30,000 employees worldwide.

A member of the Georgia, Illinois, South Carolina, Virginia and American Bar Associations, Mr. Kearse’s firm has been recognized since 2006 in Martindale-Hubbell’s Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers.  He is also a  Lifetime Fellow of The American Bar Foundation (ABF), an organization limited to 1/3 of 1% of the attorneys in America.  Founded in 1955, the Fellows of the ABF is an honorary organization of attorneys, judges and law professors whose professional, public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of their communities and to the highest principles of the legal profession. 

His experience includes designing and drafting wills and trust documents associated with estate planning and elder law, designing and drafting pension, deferred compensation, severance, self-funded medical and other benefit plans (including ESOPs), and representation of clients regarding formation of limited liability companies.