Zoe Sanders Nettles is a partner resident in the Columbia, South Carolina firm Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough where she practices in the area of business litigation with an emphasis on appeals and class action defense. Ms. Nettles has been a member of NAWL since 1998 and has been the co-chair of the Rainmaking Committee since 1999. During her tenure on the Rainmaking Committee, she pioneered the first edition of the National Directory of Women-Owned Law Firms and Women Lawyers,a NAWL publication whose fourth edition was published in the spring of 2003. In 1999, she was recognized by NAWL with the Toch Award for her outstanding recruitment efforts and commitment to the organization.

Ms. Nettles has represented defendants in civil litigation including appearances in administrative hearings, discovery, and summary judgment. In criminal law, she has defended clients in both federal and state court. She has served as lead defense attorney for a corporation during a criminal investigation of its board of trustees and top level officers, and in 1997, she was the lead defense attorney for a battered wife charged with murder.

A member of the South Carolina Bar, Ms. Nettles is admitted to practice before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. Ms. Nettles is a member of the American Bar Association, and a permanent member of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference. Ms. Nettles is a member of the Richland County Bar Association, the S.C. Administrative and Regulatory Law Association (board of directors), the S.C. Association of Women Lawyers (board of directors), and she is the current chairwoman of South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Execution of Children. Ms. Nettles is a former state court prosecutor and former law clerk of U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Perry.

Ms. Nettles received a Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1992 and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of Virginia in 1989.

Zoe Sanders Nettles
Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough
PO Box 11070
Columbia, SC 29211
zoe.nettles@nmrs.com