J.R. Murphy

Founding Partner

J.R. Murphy founded the firm with John Grantland in 1997. He serves as the managing shareholder and concentrates his legal practice on insurance coverage, bad faith and complex personal injury cases.

He has extensive experience in every practice area of the firm. Although his principal focus is on insurance coverage counseling/litigation and defending extra-contractual claims, J.R.’s practice also includes automobile/transportation defense, agency professional negligence, product liability, construction defect, and employment law.

J.R. has conducted almost 200 jury trials and is also one of South Carolina’s most active appellate attorneys, arguing more than 50 cases before the state and federal appellate courts, including the South Carolina Supreme Court and Court of Appeals and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Clients and fellow attorneys frequently call upon J.R. for his evaluation of unusual insurance coverage matters, including auto, general liability, specialty and first-party property coverage policies. He also counsels clients on how to avoid or defend extra-contractual liability claims.

J.R. is a member of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel and a fellow of the American College of Coverage and Extracontractual Counsel. He is a frequent lecturer at legal and insurance industry seminars around the country.

J.R. attended the University of South Carolina on a soccer scholarship and obtained both his undergraduate and juris doctor degrees from the University. J.R. and his wife Aimee have three grown children and 3 grandchildren.  He is an avid golfer who also enjoys tennis and hiking.

Listed in:
Forbes Fortune 500 Go To Lawyers for Insurance Coverage
Top Rated Lawyer, The American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel, Insurance Law (2013, 2014)
Top Attorneys in South Carolina, Columbia Living Magazine (2013)
Columbia Legal Elite (2018)
Legal Elite of the Midlands (2019)
Editorial Board – Law of Automobile Insurance in South Carolina, Third Edition