In the eight years that Brett Bayne of McAngus Goudelock & Courie has been practicing law, he has had a critical role in preserving the art of the trial in South Carolina.
“The decline in cases going to trial is staggering,” said Joseph Bias of Vernis & Bowling in Columbia, who went to law school with Bayne and has practiced with him. “What is even more astonishing is that the efforts of one person can truly make a difference in preserving this art form. That person is Brett Bayne.”
Bayne
For his efforts in guiding the University of South Carolina School of Law’s Mock Trial Bar to national prominence and training law students to excel in the courtroom, Bayne is South Carolina Lawyers Weekly’s Lawyer of the Year for 2019.
“Over the years, it feels like trial advocacy is dying because we have done so much to reduce the number of trials” through alternative dispute resolution, Bayne said. “You can’t get good at it if you don’t do it, and if you don’t do it, you can’t get good at it.”
Teaching the next generation
Bayne grew up in Dallas, Texas. When he was 12, his father, himself an attorney, was tossing out some outdated LexisNexis books. Bayne read one on family law and was hooked. Although he had initially intended to become a doctor, after Bayne graduated from Baylor University he decided to go to USC, where he now teaches trial advocacy courses.
Since 2013, he has also served as the advisor and head coach of the law school’s Mock Trial Bar, which had previously operated in obscurity, Bias said. The program wasn’t well funded, it didn’t have a faculty sponsor, and students didn’t compete in many competitions.
That’s when Bayne stepped in.
The program is now ranked 13th in the country. Students have won nine regional and national championships so far, and often place as finalists or semifinalists in competitions, and have won multiple outstanding advocate awards.
“You only have to attend one of his mock trial practices at the law school to see firsthand how his students relate to him, and the relationship he has with them,” Bias said. “He’s invested in those students’ success in a way that few alums are, and is almost solely responsible for producing a group of trial-ready young attorneys for this state.”
‘The best type of lawyer’
Law schools have moved away from teaching trial advocacy, and some students leave law school not even knowing how to file a motion, said Bayne, who has tried around 20 jury cases.
But those who learn from Bayne get good. By the time they graduate, they will have spent up to 400 hours practicing and participating in up to 20 mock trials
“Our folks can walk out of law school on graduation day, and if they were handed a file and told to try a case on Monday, they could do it,” Bayne said.
Bias called Bayne “the best type of lawyer: one who has the knowledge to zealously advocate for his client, the generosity to devote his time to students at the law school, and the humor to not take himself too seriously.”
When he is not practicing, teaching, or coaching law, Bayne is a busy dad: he and his wife have two young daughters and another on the way.
Follow Bill Cresenzo on Twitter @bcresenzosclw