In more than 30 years as a lawyer in South Carolina, Bell Legal Group has distinguished itself throughout the country. Clients and other law firms turn to Bell Legal Group to solve complex cases. Three basic principles guide the company: Bell lives in Lexington with his wife Kiersten; Son, Tanner; and the rescue dog Brodie. When he`s not working or spending time with his family, you can find him fishing for big band fishermen in South Carolina`s waterways. In addition, he is active in the South Carolina Criminal Defense Attorneys` Association and also serves his community as a wrestling coach at River Bluff High School (where he helped three teams win several state championships). Bell has focused on representing the accused since his college studies at the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor in 2011. While in law school, he worked at the Richland County Public Defender`s Office in Colombia and continued to practice law there after obtaining his bar license. Bell joined The Jeffcoat Firm in October 2017. He focuses on criminal defense, professional license defense (defense of licensed professionals from their various regulatory bodies) and DUI defense. In 2015, Bell received additional intensive training in the art of jury sentencing at the National Criminal Defense College Trial Practice Institute. Knowledge, compassion and determination have helped us consistently win cases for more than four decades During his years of criminal defense, Bell has seen how blame can get out of hand when bad things happen. On several occasions, Bell convinced a court that the government`s actions were unfair, resulting in dismissals and reductions in sentence for its customers.
Originally from North Carolina, Bell grew up near Charlotte and earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in 2007. After working in the financial services industry for a year, Bell decided to study law after realizing he wanted to have a direct role in supporting people. “When there are serious allegations, everyone wants to be able to blame someone so they feel confident that they have caught the person responsible,” he explains. “I think that plays a big role in law enforcement today, just finding the simple target instead of acknowledging what really happened and whether that person actually did it.” He remained in the Public Defender`s Office for six years and dealt with the full spectrum of criminal defence cases, from the most serious crimes to misdemeanours. He has pleaded numerous jury trials before the General Sessions Court and magistrates` court, and was one of the leading defense attorneys in the first human trafficking case ever brought before the South Carolina Grand Jury. “I like to help people when they feel hopeless or are accused of doing something they didn`t do. It happens; it`s just a sad truth of this world,” Bell says. “I love seeing people go through these difficult situations. Bell Legal Group is a dedicated group of lawyers who know how to support victims of water pollution at Camp Lejeune and help them reach their long-awaited day in court. “Criminal defense lawyers are the shield that protects individuals from the all-powerful government apparatus,” he says. “He doesn`t care about individual feelings or circumstances. It`s a machine, and it wants to roll.
If you`re caught up in it, you`re just going to run unless you have someone to defend you. Our tenacity – we don`t give up until we get there. Ask J. Taylor Bell what he likes most about his criminal law practice, and his answer is clear: “Fight against power.” No one understands the nuances of the legislation better than Ed Bell. Along with other elite lawyers and victims, he campaigned for it. They all worked together to make it the law of the land.