About Us

We represent employees, business owners, investors, and others who require personal attention and dedication to their most pressing legal issues. Our clients appreciate the value we can offer because we understand that the principles and money involved in these disputes are theirs personally.  

Whether it is helping a family that is suffering through the hardship of a job loss, or helping a business person protect the bottom line, we understand that clients want clarity, efficiency, and results.

Our attorneys have consistently received the highest peer-review ratings possible for lawyers, including Martindale-Hubbell, SuperLawyers, and Best Lawyers in America.  Our practice has been built on the referrals we have received from past clients and members of our profession.  Our attorneys have worked in practices ranging from sole practitioner to a multi-national firm with over 1000 attorneys.  We also have extensive trial experience that provides us with the ability to advise clients on what really happens when a jury is empaneled to decide a dispute.

Our firm’s structure, our backgrounds, and our collective experience allow us to offer the quality of service clients expect from a large firm, but without the attendant cost and overhead. We pride ourselves on finding an approach to each situation that is tailored to meet the client’s individual needs.

We hope this site provides the information you are seeking about the services we provide.  After you have reviewed it, please contact us about scheduling a consultation to discuss your matter.

About Brian

Brian P. Murphy

Greenville, SC

About Tom

Thomas L. Stephenson

Greenville, SC

Brian P. Murphy

Phone: 864.370.9400
Fax: 864.240.9292
Email

Brian has maintained a Martindale Hubbell rating of AV, the highest rating available in the profession, since he was first eligible for review. Brian has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers In America, Super Lawyers, and Legal Elite of the Upstate.  These are honors bestowed on attorneys based solely on peer review processes. He is a past (student) member of the John Belton O’Neall Inn of Court and a current executive board member of the Haynsworth=Perry Inn of Court.

Brian has been selected as being within the top 25 vote recipients in South Carolina (all practice groups) for Super Lawyers in three of the last four years (2013, 2015, and 2016).

Brian is a native of Pennsylvania and obtained his B. A. from Penn State in 1987. After graduation, he worked for Masland Industries in Carlisle, Pa. as an employee relations representative. He then transferred to Masland’s Toronto, Ontario plant as the employee relations manager until he left the company in 1989 to attend law school.

Brian graduated, with honors, from the University of South Carolina School of Law where he was Associate Editor-In-Chief of the South Carolina Law Review (volume 43) and was appointed as a legal writing instructor. He was a member of the Order of the Coif, the Order of Wig and Robe, and the John Belton O’Neall Inn of Court.

After graduation, Brian practiced with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in Pennsylvania until he returned to South Carolina to join Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart in 1994. In 1996, he left to start his own practice and, since that time, has represented individuals and small to medium sized businesses in employment litigation and business disputes.  Brian and Tom Stephenson formed Stephenson and Murphy in July, 2014.

Brian has authored one law review article on South Carolina employment law, 43 S.C. L. Rev. 387 (1992), is a contributing author to Labor & Employment Law for South Carolina Employers (S.C. Bar 2004), and has spoken numerous times to Bar and professional organizations on issues related to employment law and trial advocacy.

Brian is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and South Carolina, including the federal district courts for South Carolina and the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the Third and Fourth Circuit Courts of Appeal, and the United States Supreme Court.

In addition to practicing law, Brian also is a mediator and arbitrator for both state and federal-court cases.

Thomas L. Stephenson

Phone: 864.370.9400
Fax: 864.240.9292
Email

The South Carolina Supreme Court has certified Tom as a specialist in labor and employment law. He currently is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Medical University of South Carolina where he served as chair from 2006-2014.

Tom is rated AV by Martindale Hubbell, the highest rating in the profession. He also has been listed in both SuperLawyers – South Carolina in every edition since 2008.  In 2016, Tom was listed among the Top 10 lawyers in all practice areas for South Carolina.  Tom also is listed in Best Lawyers in America, as well as  Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers for both Litigation: General Commercial and Labor and Employment. He also has been chosen for inclusion in Legal Elite of the Upstate. These are all honors bestowed on attorneys based solely on peer review processes.

Tom also is one of the preeminent business litigators in South Carolina. He was the lead attorney for the prevailing party in Kiriakides v. Atlas Food Systems & Services, Inc., 343 S.C. 587 (2001) – the seminal case in South Carolina on the use of the dissolution statute to provide remedies for minority shareholders. Tom also has extensive experience in litigating catastrophic injuries, professional liability (malpractice), insurance bad faith, and general insurance cases.

In addition to his business litigation and employment law practice, Tom is one of the most sought-after mediators in South Carolina. Tom both mediates and arbitrates disputes in all facets of the law.

Tom Stephenson is a South Carolina native and obtained both his undergraduate and his law degree from the University of South Carolina. After being admitted to the Bar, Tom worked for Haynsworth, Baldwin, Johnson & Greaves (now Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart), as well as Leatherwood, Walker, Todd & Mann (now Smith Moore Leatherwood). In 1993, he and a colleague opened the Greenville office of Nexsen Pruet, where Tom practiced for twenty-one years before starting Stephenson & Murphy.