Three New Associates: Motley Rice expands practice groups
Motley Rice welcomes three new lawyers to its Mt. Pleasant, S.C., headquarters, Max N. Gruetzmacher (SC), P. Graham Maiden (SC) and Ann E. Rice Ervin (SC). Having varying educational and work backgrounds, each adds valuable experience to the firm's work representing consumers, investors, patients, victims of terrorism and other human rights abuses and those who have suffered due to corporate negligence and wrongdoing.
"These three associates add tremendous strength to the firm practice groups they have joined, and we look forward to their contributions to our clients, our staff and the continued success of the firm," said Motley Rice attorney and Hiring Committee Chair Fred Baker.
Gruetzmacher served as a contract attorney before joining the firm as an associate, representing large public pension funds, unions and other institutional investors in securities and consumer fraud class actions and shareholder derivative suits. Prior to working with Motley Rice, he served as a legal intern with the Wisconsin Public Defender, Appellate Division, where he gained experience in criminal defense, legal research and brief writing. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Marquette University Law School and a member of the state bar of South Carolina and the Charleston County Bar Association.
Maiden represents the firm's clients in complex anti-terrorism and human rights matters. He previously served as a law clerk with Motley Rice, during which time he supported litigation on behalf of clients seeking to hold BP and other corporate defendants accountable for the 2010 Gulf Coast oil spill. A graduate of the College of Charleston and the Charleston School of Law, Maiden brings prior experience in legal research, writing and trial preparation to the firm in addition to business insight, having previously assisted a large real estate company with nationwide hotel and restaurant development. He is a member of the South Carolina Bar Association and Charleston Bar Association.
Rice Ervin focuses her practice on representing victims injured by allegedly harmful drugs and defective medical devices. She brings both a legal and a medical background to the firm's clients. After completing undergraduate and law studies at the University of South Carolina and University of South Carolina School of Law, Rice Ervin pursued a Master of Arts degree in Bioethics at New York University. She supported numerous bioethics-related research projects during her studies and also served as a law clerk for another plaintiffs' firm in New York, conducting legal research and analysis for complex environmental litigation. She serves as a Community Representative of MUSC's Ethics Committee and Ethics Consultation service and is a member of the American Association for Justice, South Carolina Association for Justice, Charleston County Bar Association and state bar of South Carolina.