Bill Boyd receives 2011 Distinguished Service Award

William C. (Bill) Boyd, shareholder at Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A., received the 2011 Distinguished Service Award from the Richland County Bar Association at its annual meeting held at the Columbia Museum of Art on December 15.

This award is the highest recognition given by the association and acknowledges distinguished and meritorious service to the legal profession and to the public. Named in honor of the late John W. Williams, the award’s previous recipients, among others, include SC Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean H. Toal, the late Judge Matthew J. Perry and The Honorable Carol Connor.

Bill, a lifelong Columbia resident, has practiced law with Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A., and its predecessor firms in his hometown since 1965. He is a member of the Richland County and South Carolina Bar Associations, a permanent member of the Judicial Conference for the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and a member of DRI, Inc., and the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorney’s Association.

He has managed numerous mergers and acquisitions, and large real estate acquisitions and industrial developments during his legal career. For over 20 years, he has represented one of South Carolina’s largest multinational corporations.

Bill has been included in The Best Lawyers in America® since its inception and other similar ranking publications for his experience in anti-trust; corporate law; mergers and acquisitions; and real estate. He was named Best Lawyers’ 2012 Columbia-SC Mergers & Acquisitions Law “Lawyer of the Year.”

He served as the 2010 board chair of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, one of a handful of lawyers ever to serve as chairman of the largest statewide business and industry association. A founding member and currently serving on the Executive Committee of the Midlands Business Leadership Group, Bill and the membership of CEOs and other business leaders address regional issues important to economic development and to the community.

He has served on the Midlands Housing Alliance Board and Executive Committee since its inception. A successful fundraising campaign raised over $11.5 million for the construction and recent opening of Transitions, an innovative program for the homeless that collaborates with other local service providers to transition homeless men and women into productive lives with jobs and independent housing.

He has been actively involved in numerous other state and community endeavors and boards. Among these, Bill chairs the Waterfront Steering Team, a pro bono, non-political, independent group of public advocates spearheading the master planning, rezoning, financing and public and private development of the 500-acre Innovista/Waterfront districts between the University and a proposed regional waterfront park on the Congaree River.

Bill has received legal and civic recognitions from South Carolina Lawyers Weekly, the South Carolina Law School Alumni Association (Compleat Lawyer), the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce (Ambassador of the Year) and Greater Columbia Business Monthly.