Cherie W. Blackburn is a partner of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP and leads the labor and employment practice in the firm's Charleston office. Ms. Blackburn has more than 17 years of experience in employment law and business litigation. She represents companies in employment-related litigation, including Title VII discrimination and sexual harassment claims, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, wrongful termination, and breach of handbook claims. She regularly advises clients in connection with employee terminations, disciplinary actions, policy implementation and investigations. She provides in-depth sexual harassment training to both management and lower level employees.
Ms. Blackburn frequently drafts and litigates covenants not to compete and lectures on employment law. She is the author of the chapter, "Covenants Not To Compete and Other Restrictive Covenants" in the book titled, Labor and Employment Law for South Carolina Lawyers published by the South Carolina Bar. She has also written a law review article titled Post-Employment Covenants Not to Compete in South Carolina: Wizards and Dragons in the Kingdom, 42 S.C. L. REV., 1991; as well as Covenants Not to Compete in Employment Agreements: Would Yours Survive? published in the South Carolina Lawyer Magazine. Ms. Blackburn also represents clients in the areas of trademark, copyright and trade secrets law.
As a certified mediator, Ms. Blackburn mediates cases in federal and state court, including primarily employment related cases. She has also been appointed as an arbitrator in the Court of Common Pleas for Charleston County. In 2004, Ms. Blackburn received the Claude M. Scarborough, Jr. Pro Bono Award for her work with non-profit organizations. She is named in The Best Lawyers in America (2005-2006 editions).
She is a member of the South Carolina Bar and its Employment and Labor Law Section. She is also a member of the House of Delegates of the South Carolina Bar and is a board member of the South Carolina Women Lawyers Association. Ms. Blackburn is a member of the American Bar Association (Litigation Section, Employment and Labor Relations Law Committee) and is the former chairwoman of the Labor and Employment Law Committee and the Intellectual Property Law Committee of the Young Lawyers Division. She is a member of the Charleston County Bar Association, the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys' Association (Employment Law Committee), and South Carolina Women Lawyers. She is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.
Ms. Blackburn is the vice president and a member of the board of directors of the ASCEND Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the elimination of cancer. She is also on the board of directors of the Dee Norton Lowcountry Children's Center and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Carolina Coastal Council, Boy Scouts of America.
In 1987, Ms. Blackburn earned a Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law where she was a member of the Order of the Barrister and the winner of the 1986 Moot Court Competition. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Emory University in 1983 and an Associate in Arts from Oxford College in 1982.
- Partner
- South Carolina, 1987
- U.S. District Court District of South Carolina, 1988
- U.S. Federal Courts, 1987
- University of South Carolina School of Law, Columbia, South Carolina
