J. Kevin Holmes

Kevin Holmes has 42 years of experience that includes trying civil and criminal cases in the state and federal courts of South Carolina, including 36 murder cases, two death penalty cases, and thousands of civil and lesser cases. He has also won numerous and significant Supreme Court cases that resulted in expanding and protecting injured people’s rights. Regardless of the nature of the case, his understanding of — and commitment to — helping his clients’ manage and resolve their issues that stand out. Kevin genuinely cares about client concerns such as how they will manage after being injured in a car accident or an incident at their workplace; where they can go for medical treatment; what about their long-term financial picture, including how they will pay medical bills; how they will deal with the complexities of an insurance claim process; or how the current COVID-19 pandemic might affect healthcare workers and other essential employees.

“I wasn’t born in the South, but got here as quick as I could.” That’s the motto you’ll see in the sign that hangs over Kevin’s desk. After graduating from Rutgers University School of Law in 1975, he moved to Columbia. Once he passed the South Carolina bar exam, he began working with then-Senator Isadore E. Lourie, Speaker Pro Tem of the South Carolina Senate, and a champion of the rights of working men and women of our state. During his time with Lourie, Kevin won the landmark case of Marquard v. Columbia Pacific Mills — the first time a cotton mill worker was awarded death benefits for the lung disease byssinosis (brown lung). The case broke the stranglehold that the political Medical Panel had on denying benefits to mill workers and made it easier for all workers to receive workers’ compensation benefits for occupational diseases. It also set Kevin on his path as an attorney.

Kevin joined the Steinberg Law Firm in 1979 because he respected its founder, Irving Steinberg, another champion of working men and women's rights. The firm and its founder embodied his perspective of what it means to be a lawyer. “It was Irving Steinberg who helped write South Carolina’s first workers’ compensation statute and got it passed into law by the Legislature in 1936,” he says.

Because he believes that “it isn’t enough to be a good trial lawyer; a good lawyer must also be prepared to fight their client’s case on appeal,” Kevin follows cases through to appeals when needed.

Thanks to his stellar legal work, Kevin earned a membership in the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates. He is also a widely respected member of the bar of the State of South Carolina, United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, Fourth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, and United States Supreme Court.

Kevin also serves on the board of the Charleston County Bar Association and has served several terms on the Board of Governors of the South Carolina Association for Justice. He has been continuously recognized by the Million Dollar Advocates, Best Lawyers in America (for personal injury and workers’ compensation), and Super Lawyers. In further recognition of his dedication and commitment, Kevin recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Injured Workers Advocates (IWA), a South Carolina nonprofit association of attorneys dedicated to protecting and advancing the rights of South Carolina workers injured by accidental injuries or occupational diseases. Kevin is also active in the community, serving on the boards of numerous charitable organizations. He is married to Mary Hiott Holmes, and they have five children.