Tope Leyimu focuses her practice on helping people catastrophically hurt or killed as a result of corporate wrongdoing, occupational hazards and environmental negligence.
Tope also represents government entities in complex litigation designed to protect public health and safety.
She is a part of the firm’s team representing dozens of governmental entities, including states, counties, cities, towns, and townships in litigation targeting the alleged deceptive marketing and over-distribution of highly addictive opioid drugs, a contended cause of the nationwide opioid crisis. She also has experience representing workers and their families in a number of asbestos-related cases.
While a law student at the University of Virginia School of Law, Tope interned with the Legal Aid Justice Center of Charlottesville, Virginia, providing legal representation for low-income individuals and families in the areas of housing and employment law, and worked as a law clerk at a firm in Jacksonville, Florida, on wrongful death and personal injury cases. She also volunteered with the Virginia Innocence Project Student Group, a student legal research group, helping investigate and screen cases involving prisoners convicted of serious crimes who had cognizable claims of actual innocence. While at UVA, she served on the board of the Virginia Sports and Entertainment Law Journal, as the President of Phi Alpha Delta, the Vice President of Communications of ABLE (Action for a Better Living Environment), and on the Policy Council for the Black Law Student Association.
Active in her community, Tope is a Charleston Habitat for Humanity board member and a HALOS Board of Directors member, supporting and advocating for abused and neglected children and kinship caregivers. She also serves on the board of the Green Heart Project, a volunteer-assisted service-learning organization that integrates school farms as outdoor classrooms and connects students to fresh locally-grown produce, and works to expand access to legal services and rights in South Carolina as a Charleston Legal Access board member. She is also the Chair of the Women’s Caucus for the South Carolina Association for Justice.
Education
J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, 2013
B.A., with honors, University of Central Florida, 2009
Associations
American Association for Justice
American Bar Association
South Carolina Association for Justice, Chair – Women's Caucus
South Carolina Bar Association
Licensed In
- South Carolina
Admitted to Practice Before
U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina
Litigation Areas
Asbestos Exposure Consumer Fraud Protection Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Toxic ExposureAwards and Accolades
2021 Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Plaintiffs; Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs; Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs
2017–2020 South Carolina Super Lawyers® Rising Stars list
Personal injury–general: plaintiff
Class of 2018