Our personal injury law firm was founded by Pat McWhirter.  H. Patterson McWhirter was born and raised in Walterboro, South Carolina.  After graduating in 1969 with a B.S. in business administration from the University of South Carolina, Mr. McWhirter went to the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he earned his Juris Doctorate degree in 1973.  After graduation from law school, Mr. McWhirter formed the partnership of Hunter & McWhirter with James Earl Hunter.  Hunter & McWhirter was a general practice law firm with an emphasis on personal injury law.  That same year, Mr. McWhirter was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of the State of South Carolina, the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina and, later, was admitted to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

In 1977, Mr. McWhirter was elected by the Lexington County Bar Association to the position of public defender for Lexington County. The office was formed for the purpose of providing legal representation to indigent criminal defendants, and Mr. McWhirter held that position for fourteen years.

While working part-time as a public defender for Lexington County, Mr. McWhirter continued to build his law practice, and in 1986, formed the firm which became McWhirter & Associates with a practice limited to the various areas of personal injury law, including workers’ compensation, auto accidents, medical malpractice, wrongful death, premises liability and products liability. In 1988, he expanded the firm to include an office in Columbia, South Carolina.

In 1989, Garland Pearson McWhirter joined the firm as managing attorney, and Thomas P. Bellinger, who had previously worked with Mr. McWhirter as an assistant public defender for Lexington County, became an associate with the firm. By 1996, the firm had expanded to two additional offices in Sumter and Orangeburg, South Carolina, and had five attorneys. The name of the firm became McWhirter, Bellinger & Associates. Today, McWhirter, Bellinger and Associates, P.A., has expanded to seven offices in seven counties with a staff of more than fifty employees, including eleven attorneys, and has brought to a successful settlement or verdict thousands of personal injury cases.

McWhirter, Bellinger & Associates, P.A., personal injury attorneys are active in South Carolina Bar Association committees, speakers for the community, civic groups and school career days, speakers at pro bono legal clinics, judges for student mock trials at all educational levels, and Ms. Meyer has served as an adjunct professor in the paralegal training program at a community college.  In the spirit of giving back to the community, McWhirter, Bellinger & Associates, P.A., is involved in many community activities and has been a sponsor of local high school athletic, drama, and music events for several years. Also, McWhirter, Bellinger & Associates, P.A., also has a Salvation Army bell-ringing team to raise funds for the homeless, and Mr. McWhirter participates in the Salvation Army Mentoring Program. The personal injury attorneys at McWhirter, Bellinger and Associates, P.A., are well-rounded individuals who are active in the community and, along with the staff, do their very best to provide quality personal service while representing their clients’ best interests and adhering to the highest professional standards.