William T. Toal, Founding Shareholder
William T. Toal (Bill) is a founding shareholder of Johnson, Toal & Battiste, P. A. and brings to the firm extensive courtroom experience, both at the trial and appellate level. His practice includes criminal, personal injury, commercial and property litigation and Social Security hearings.
Bill was born in Columbia and graduated from Yale University with a Bachelors Degree in Chemistry. After a three-year enlistment in the United States Navy, Bill enrolled in law school at the University of South Carolina School of Law. Graduating first in his class, he received the Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude.
Upon graduation, Bill became a law clerk to the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The following year, he was the only full-time lawyer in the newly-formed Public Defenders Office in Greenville County, South Carolina. Later, Bill was hired by the University of South Carolina School of Law as an assistant professor. In his five years there, he taught contracts, torts, student legal aid, corrections clinic, defense clinic and juvenile defense clinic.
Bill has received the highest rating for ethics and legal ability awarded by Martindale-Hubbell, a national legal rating service and was selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America.
Bill is married to Jean Hoefer Toal, who in 1988 became the first female Justice to sit on the South Carolina Supreme Court. She is presently Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court. They are the parents of two daughters, Jean Eisen, who works for the Senate Commerce Committee in Washington. D.C. and Lilla, who is a teacher in Redwood City, California. Bill has one grandson, Patrick. He is a member of Shandon Presbyterian Church where he has taught four and five year old kindergarteners since 1970. |
803-252-9700
803-252-9102