Motley Rice welcomes two new associate attorneys
Plaintiffs’ law firm Motley Rice welcomes two new lawyers, Sara Couch Bryant (SC) and Temitope “Tope” Leyimu (SC) to its Mt. Pleasant, S.C., office to support growing client needs and cases in several key areas of practice.
Bryant and Leyimu will contribute to many of the causes and cases that the firm is known for, including working with the firms’ clients such as consumers, investors, victims of toxic asbestos exposure and those who have suffered due to corporate negligence and wrongdoing.
“We are pleased to welcome these two new associates to our team and look forward to their continued development and success at the firm,” said Motley Rice attorney and Hiring Committee Chair Fred Baker. “I am certain they will bring fresh ideas and their contributions will be beneficial for our clients.”
Bryant, a 2013 graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law and a 2009 graduate of Duke University, joins the firm’s securities and consumer fraud practice group. She will work with many of the firm’s institutional investors, government entities and consumers, in addition to assisting in the firm’s individual tobacco cases and litigation. Prior to joining Motley Rice, Bryant was a certified student practitioner with the UNC Civil Litigation Clinic where she represented clients in administrative hearings, obtaining needed financial relief for them. She also represented several inmates in an action against the North Carolina prison system, conducting depositions and assisting in obtaining a preliminary injunction against the prison. As a law clerk with the North Carolina Department of Justice, Bryant researched and drafted briefs and memorandums regarding the False Claims Act and Stark Law for the North Carolina Medicaid Civil Enforcement Division. She was also a volunteer with Legal Aid of North Carolina.
Leyimu, a 2013 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law and 2009 University of Central Florida graduate with honors, will focus her practice on people and families whose lives have been affected by catastrophic injuries or death as a result of corporate wrongdoing. This will include those harmed by occupational hazards, defective products and environmental negligence as well as victims of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases. Previously, Leyimu was an intern with the Legal Aid Justice Center of Charlottesville, Va., working in the family mediation clinic where she mediated disputes between parties. She was also a law clerk at a law firm in Jacksonville, Fla., where she gained experience in products liability issues stemming from wrongful death cases. During law school, Leyimu volunteered with the Virginia Innocence Project Student Group, a student legal research group that assists with the investigation and screening of cases involving prisoners convicted of serious crimes where cognizable claims of actual innocence exist.