Karl A. Folkens

• Karl received his Juris Doctor degree in law from the University of South Carolina in 1980. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Winthrop University in 1978, graduating summa cum laude with honors.
• He is admitted to practice before all State and Federal Courts in South Carolina, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. He is a member of the South Carolina Association for Justice and the American Association for Justice.
• During law school, Karl was a member of the Order of Wig & Robe and a member of the ABA National Moot Court team, national finalists. He was also a Finalist in the J. Woodrow Lewis Moot Court Competition.
• Karl is Past President of the South Carolina Bar Foundation (having previously served as Vice-President and Secretary-Treasurer), Past Chair of the SC Bar Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, and a former member of the South Carolina Bar House of Delegates and the Supreme Court's Joint Commission on Alternative Dispute Resolution.  He was the Municipal Court Judge for the Town of Timmonsville and President of the Florence County Bar.  He has also been appointed by the South Carolina Supreme Court to be an Attorney to Protect Clients' Interests and currently serves as Attorney to Assist Disciplinary Counsel.
• Karl recently finished a fourth term as Chair of the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, Winthrop University, and has served as its Vice-Chair.  He currently chairs its Finance Committee.  He was the first male alumnus to serve on the Winthrop Board of Trustees and as its Board Chair, as well as the first male to serve as President of the Winthrop Alumni Association.  He was also a member of the Winthrop Foundation Board of Directors. 
• Karl is a founding director and past President of the Pee Dee Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Assault, and has served continuously on its Board of Directors for the past 23 years.  He was a Board member of the Pee Dee Mental Health Center and President and board member of the Mental Health Association of Florence County.  He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Mental Health Awareness Foundation.
• Karl has presented at numerous continuing legal education seminars, the South Carolina Judicial Conference, and professional association conventions in the areas of expert witnesses, advanced mediation techniques, effective advocacy in mediation, arbitration certification, starting a mediation practice, exploring new forms of ADR, guardian ad litem certification, applying computer technologies to the practice of law, equitable division of marital and business assets, and legal ethics.  He is currently Chair of the Technology Committee of the South Carolina Association for Justice and serves as administrator of its membership listserv.  He is currently listed in The Best Lawyers in America and South Carolina Super Lawyers.
• He is a certified civil court mediator and arbitrator in state and federal courts, and a certified family court mediator.  He maintains an active ADR practice, having mediated over 2,600 cases and arbitrated over 260 cases. He is a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution and served on its South Carolina Chapter Organizing Committee, and its founding Board of Directors.  He was Vice-Chair and board member of the South Carolina Council for Conflict Resolution.   
• Karl is a member of Cross & Crown Lutheran Church, and was its President and Treasurer.  He is married to Nell Folkens and is the proud father of Elizabeth, an accountant formerly living in Columbia, SC, and now living in Goldsboro, NC, and Anna Leah, who spent a year as a foreign exchange student in Ecuador and is now a pre-med student at Barnard College at Columbia University in New York City.  He completed his goal of visiting all 50 states before turning 50!  Following a trip to southwest Tanzania in East Africa, he is working on improving standards of living for the people residing there and is looking forward to returning in the summer of 2011.  He enjoys traveling, photography, playing guitar, and all things technological.