ALEXANDER M. SANDERS, Jr.
Education:
Dreher High School, graduated 1956.
Three earned degrees, B.S. and LL.B. (now J.D.) University of South Carolina, 1960 and 1962; LL.M. University of Virginia, 1990. USC Law Review. Order of Coif, USC Law. Harvard University School of Education Program for New University Presidents, 1992.
Honorary Degrees, Doctor of Laws, College of Charleston, 1986; University of South Carolina, 1992; The Citadel, 2005.
Professional Experience:
Admitted to the practice of law before the South Carolina Supreme Court (1962); the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (1975); and the United States Supreme Court (1975).
Associate, law firm of Belser & Belser, 1962-1963.
President, South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association (now SCAJ), 1967.
Member, South Carolina House of Representatives, 1966-1974; South Carolina Senate, 1976-1983.
Chair, South Carolina Board of Advisors on Consumer Credit, 1974-1976.
Private practice of law (in association with various lawyers) 1963-1974.
Senior Partner, Sanders & Quackenbush (now Berry, Quackenbush & Stuart), 1974-1983.
Chief Judge, South Carolina Court of Appeals and Acting Associate Justice, South Carolina Supreme Court, 1983-1992.
Member, American Law Institute.
President, College of Charleston (and University of Charleston, S.C.), 1992-2001.
Chair, South Carolina Council of College Presidents, 1999-2000.
President, American Bar Association Council of Chief Judges of Courts of Appeal, 1990-1991.
Vice Chair, American Bar Association Conference of Appellate Court Judges (representing all Appellate Court Judges, State and Federal), 1991.
Board of Trustees, Spoleto Festival, 1992-2001.
Recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Award as “a champion of common people’s dream of equal and impartial justice for all mankind.” S.C. Jury Trial Foundation, May 15, 1992.
Member of the Governor’s Committee on Race Relations, 1996-1998.
Chair, committee to select the South Carolina Poet Laureate, 2001.
Board of Directors, National Bank of South Carolina, 1994-2011.
Board of Directors, Armstrong World Industries, Inc., 2006-2009.
Board of Trustees, National Judicial College, member 1998-2005, Chair 2003.
Board of Directors, National Center for Courts and the Media, 2004.
Chair, Governor James Hodges’ Transition Team, 1998.
Member, Advisory Board, Southern Environmental Law Center.
Member, Leadership Council, Southern Poverty Law Center.
Member, Advisory Board, Lowcountry Initiative for the Literary Arts.
Democratic nominee for the United States Senate, 2002.
Board of Trustees, The Nature Conservancy, 2003-2013.
Chair, Board of Trustees, The Huntington Society, 2003.
Permanent member, 4th Circuit Court of Appeals Judicial Conference.
Member of the Board, ABA Judicial Division.
Recipient of the S.C. Bar DuRant Award for Public Service, 2004.
Shareholder, Sanders & Nettles, LLC, 2006-2010.
Contributing Editor, Garden & Gun magazine, 2007-2008.
Appointed by the Delaware Bankruptcy Court as the Legal Representative for Future Asbestos-Related Property Damage Claimants vs. W.R. Grace & Co., et al., 2008-present.
Editorial Board, SC Trial Objections, a publication of the South Carolina Bar, 2009.
Member of the Board, Project SEED, 2009.
Member of the Board, Death Penalty Resource & Defense Center, 2010-2013.
Member, SC Business Leaders Higher Education Council, 2013.
Member, Charleston World Heritage Coalition, 2013.
Charter Member, Library of America, 2017.
Member, Leadership Team, The Sophia Institute, Charleston, SC, 2017.
Partner, Sanders Law Firm of South Carolina.
Teaching Experience:
Full-time Faculty, University of South Carolina, 1974-1983.
Adjunct Faculty, University of South Carolina, 1963-1974, 1984-1992.
Adjunct Clinical Faculty, Winter Semester, Harvard Law School, 1981-2009.
Fellow, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2003-2004, 2004-2005.
Professor of Political Science, College of Charleston, 1992-2021.
Faculty, Aspen Institute, Summer 1996.
Faculty, Defense Research Institute (DRI) 2011.
Numerous law related seminars.
Numerous speeches throughout the United States, including, among others, the American Bar Association, the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference, ATLA and DRI, and a number of state Bar Associations and the annual Pope & John Lecture at Northwestern University.
21st Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture - June 2009. Presentation of paper, William S. Stevens (1948-2008) and “The Common Law Origins of the Infield Fly Rule,” to National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, New York. Campaign literature in the format of a baseball card accepted as a baseball artifact into the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum, June 9, 2009.
22nd Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture - June 2010. Presentation of paper, “Bobo Newsom, Van Lingle Mungo, and Shoeless Joe Jackson: Memories of My Childhood.”
23rd Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture – June 2011. Presentation of paper, “How Baseball United America after the Civil War.”
24th Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture – June 2012. Presentation of paper, “The Deconstruction of ‘Casey at the Bat’; How Baseball Poetry Influences the American Society.”
26th Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture – June 2014. Presentation of paper, “Boston Red Sox I Have Known: My 75 Years Following Baseball, Man and Boy, Continued.”
27th Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture – June 2015. Presentation of paper, “THE OLD GREY MARE; The Role of the Grand Finale in Baseball.”
30th Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture – June 2018. Presentation of the paper, “Darren “Dutch” Daulton: Brain Cancer and Baseball.”
My paper from the 2010 Hall of Fame ceremonies, “Bobo Newsom, Van Lingle Mungo and Shoeless Joe Jackson: Memories of My Childhood,” was made into a public television documentary, retitled “Cards Against A Wall” and aired during the 2012 World Series. The film was exhibited at film festivals:
Beaufort Film Festival, February 13-17, 2013
Charleston International Film Festival, April 26, 2013
Greenville International Film Festival, June 9, 2013
(Received the “Glory Award” for the best documentary)
National Baseball Hall of Fame Film Festival, September 28, 2013
Publications:
Law related articles and three books (co-authored the books with others). Principal publications, among many others include: Trial Handbook for South Carolina Lawyers (2008) (with the Honorable Deborah Neese and John Nichols, Esq.); Criminal Procedure and Trial Practice in South Carolina (1985) (with Jack B. Swerling, Esq.); ”The Worst Jury Argument I Ever Made,” S.C. Law Review, Vol. 50, No. 3 (Spring 1999); "Newgarth Revisited: Mrs. Robinson's Case," S.C. Law Review, Vol. 49, No. 3 (Spring 1998); "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Judges," S.C. Law Review, Vol. 49, No. 2 (1998); "Judge John Belton O'Neall and McCready's Oath: A Lesson for Today," Journal of Southern Legal History, Vol. III (1994); "A Judge's Swan Song," ABA Judges' Journal, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Summer 1994); "A Judge's Swan Song," Carolina Lawyer, p. 37 (Nov.-Dec. 1992); Real Life Case Studies in Political Correctness, International Society of Barristers Quarterly, Vol. 40, No.3 (2006); “Turning the Tide,” Legends, p. 39, Vol. 17, No. 1 (2006); “How the lord God Bird Saved the Swamp,” Garden & Gun, p. 124 (Spring 2007). Participant in the production and performance of numerous Public Television programs, including the late William Buckely’s “Firing Line”; Biography of John Belton O’Neall, contained in Yale University’s Biographical Dictionary of American Law; “Who We Are Is Who We Were,” a speech published the University of South Carolina’s Ex Libris Society; “William S. Stevens (1948-2008) and The Common Law Origins of the Infield Fly Rule,” Charleston Law Review, Vol. __, No. __ (20__); “How Baseball United America After the Civil War,” Charleston Law Review, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Winter 2012-13).
Other Academic Experience:
Chair, Board of Directors and one of five Founders, the Charleston School of Law.
Board of Visitors, College of Charleston, 1987-1992.
Chair, committee established by the Will of Thomas Rhodes to nominate candidates for the Rhodes Scholarship, 1990-1991.
Trustee, Thomas Cooper Library Society, University of South Carolina, 1989-1992.
Trustee, South Carolina Commission on Higher Education Foundation, 2005-2015.
Founder and Board Member, Lightsey Society (supporting higher education in South Carolina), 2006.
Member of the three person American Bar Association committee to advise the University of Virginia Law School Graduate Program for Judges, 1989-1991.
Graduation speaker, several colleges and universities, including, among others, the College of Charleston, the University of South Carolina, Wake Forest University, the University of Virginia, and Tulane University.
Miscellaneous
Who’s Who in the World.
Who’s Who in America.
Harvard Club of New York City.
Cambridge, Massachusetts, Who’s Who, 2008.
Francis Salvador Award in recognition of his leadership, human understanding, and stance on tolerance, 2008.
Commitment to Justice Award, Center for Heirs Property Preservation, 2012.
Licensed Alligator Hunter (practicing “catch and release”), 2008.
Life Member, Circus Hall of Fame, Peru, Indiana.
Charter Member, The Flying Trapeze Association.
Associate Member, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Special Recognition by the New York Knicks NBA team, 1993.
Founding Sponsor, Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial.
Member, Academy of American Poets, 2013.
War Horse Award, Southern Trial Lawyers Association, “Presented to one of the nation’s top courtroom advocates”
American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) Champion of Justice Award
Legal Services Pro Bono Award, Charleston, Gerry Kaynard
As a small child, once introduced to Mr. Joseph Jefferson Jackson, a/k/a Shoeless Joe Jackson.
Military Service:
U.S. Army, active duty 1957, active reserve 1957-1962, inactive reserve 1962-1965, honorably discharged February 28, 1965, highest rank attained E-4 (corporal).
Immediate Family:
The late Zoe Dutrow Sanders (1938-2026) wife of 62 years, church worker, community activist, author of Entertaining at the College of Charleston.
Zoe Caroline Sanders, daughter. Former President, National Association of Women Lawyers, and mother of two children, William Norman Nettles, Jr., and Alexander Sanders Nettles, born December 18, 2003.
Dreher High School, graduated 1956.
Three earned degrees, B.S. and LL.B. (now J.D.) University of South Carolina, 1960 and 1962; LL.M. University of Virginia, 1990. USC Law Review. Order of Coif, USC Law. Harvard University School of Education Program for New University Presidents, 1992.
Honorary Degrees, Doctor of Laws, College of Charleston, 1986; University of South Carolina, 1992; The Citadel, 2005.
Professional Experience:
Admitted to the practice of law before the South Carolina Supreme Court (1962); the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (1975); and the United States Supreme Court (1975).
Associate, law firm of Belser & Belser, 1962-1963.
President, South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association (now SCAJ), 1967.
Member, South Carolina House of Representatives, 1966-1974; South Carolina Senate, 1976-1983.
Chair, South Carolina Board of Advisors on Consumer Credit, 1974-1976.
Private practice of law (in association with various lawyers) 1963-1974.
Senior Partner, Sanders & Quackenbush (now Berry, Quackenbush & Stuart), 1974-1983.
Chief Judge, South Carolina Court of Appeals and Acting Associate Justice, South Carolina Supreme Court, 1983-1992.
Member, American Law Institute.
President, College of Charleston (and University of Charleston, S.C.), 1992-2001.
Chair, South Carolina Council of College Presidents, 1999-2000.
President, American Bar Association Council of Chief Judges of Courts of Appeal, 1990-1991.
Vice Chair, American Bar Association Conference of Appellate Court Judges (representing all Appellate Court Judges, State and Federal), 1991.
Board of Trustees, Spoleto Festival, 1992-2001.
Recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Award as “a champion of common people’s dream of equal and impartial justice for all mankind.” S.C. Jury Trial Foundation, May 15, 1992.
Member of the Governor’s Committee on Race Relations, 1996-1998.
Chair, committee to select the South Carolina Poet Laureate, 2001.
Board of Directors, National Bank of South Carolina, 1994-2011.
Board of Directors, Armstrong World Industries, Inc., 2006-2009.
Board of Trustees, National Judicial College, member 1998-2005, Chair 2003.
Board of Directors, National Center for Courts and the Media, 2004.
Chair, Governor James Hodges’ Transition Team, 1998.
Member, Advisory Board, Southern Environmental Law Center.
Member, Leadership Council, Southern Poverty Law Center.
Member, Advisory Board, Lowcountry Initiative for the Literary Arts.
Democratic nominee for the United States Senate, 2002.
Board of Trustees, The Nature Conservancy, 2003-2013.
Chair, Board of Trustees, The Huntington Society, 2003.
Permanent member, 4th Circuit Court of Appeals Judicial Conference.
Member of the Board, ABA Judicial Division.
Recipient of the S.C. Bar DuRant Award for Public Service, 2004.
Shareholder, Sanders & Nettles, LLC, 2006-2010.
Contributing Editor, Garden & Gun magazine, 2007-2008.
Appointed by the Delaware Bankruptcy Court as the Legal Representative for Future Asbestos-Related Property Damage Claimants vs. W.R. Grace & Co., et al., 2008-present.
Editorial Board, SC Trial Objections, a publication of the South Carolina Bar, 2009.
Member of the Board, Project SEED, 2009.
Member of the Board, Death Penalty Resource & Defense Center, 2010-2013.
Member, SC Business Leaders Higher Education Council, 2013.
Member, Charleston World Heritage Coalition, 2013.
Charter Member, Library of America, 2017.
Member, Leadership Team, The Sophia Institute, Charleston, SC, 2017.
Partner, Sanders Law Firm of South Carolina.
Teaching Experience:
Full-time Faculty, University of South Carolina, 1974-1983.
Adjunct Faculty, University of South Carolina, 1963-1974, 1984-1992.
Adjunct Clinical Faculty, Winter Semester, Harvard Law School, 1981-2009.
Fellow, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2003-2004, 2004-2005.
Professor of Political Science, College of Charleston, 1992-2021.
Faculty, Aspen Institute, Summer 1996.
Faculty, Defense Research Institute (DRI) 2011.
Numerous law related seminars.
Numerous speeches throughout the United States, including, among others, the American Bar Association, the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference, ATLA and DRI, and a number of state Bar Associations and the annual Pope & John Lecture at Northwestern University.
21st Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture - June 2009. Presentation of paper, William S. Stevens (1948-2008) and “The Common Law Origins of the Infield Fly Rule,” to National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, New York. Campaign literature in the format of a baseball card accepted as a baseball artifact into the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum, June 9, 2009.
22nd Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture - June 2010. Presentation of paper, “Bobo Newsom, Van Lingle Mungo, and Shoeless Joe Jackson: Memories of My Childhood.”
23rd Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture – June 2011. Presentation of paper, “How Baseball United America after the Civil War.”
24th Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture – June 2012. Presentation of paper, “The Deconstruction of ‘Casey at the Bat’; How Baseball Poetry Influences the American Society.”
26th Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture – June 2014. Presentation of paper, “Boston Red Sox I Have Known: My 75 Years Following Baseball, Man and Boy, Continued.”
27th Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture – June 2015. Presentation of paper, “THE OLD GREY MARE; The Role of the Grand Finale in Baseball.”
30th Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture – June 2018. Presentation of the paper, “Darren “Dutch” Daulton: Brain Cancer and Baseball.”
My paper from the 2010 Hall of Fame ceremonies, “Bobo Newsom, Van Lingle Mungo and Shoeless Joe Jackson: Memories of My Childhood,” was made into a public television documentary, retitled “Cards Against A Wall” and aired during the 2012 World Series. The film was exhibited at film festivals:
Beaufort Film Festival, February 13-17, 2013
Charleston International Film Festival, April 26, 2013
Greenville International Film Festival, June 9, 2013
(Received the “Glory Award” for the best documentary)
National Baseball Hall of Fame Film Festival, September 28, 2013
Publications:
Law related articles and three books (co-authored the books with others). Principal publications, among many others include: Trial Handbook for South Carolina Lawyers (2008) (with the Honorable Deborah Neese and John Nichols, Esq.); Criminal Procedure and Trial Practice in South Carolina (1985) (with Jack B. Swerling, Esq.); ”The Worst Jury Argument I Ever Made,” S.C. Law Review, Vol. 50, No. 3 (Spring 1999); "Newgarth Revisited: Mrs. Robinson's Case," S.C. Law Review, Vol. 49, No. 3 (Spring 1998); "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Judges," S.C. Law Review, Vol. 49, No. 2 (1998); "Judge John Belton O'Neall and McCready's Oath: A Lesson for Today," Journal of Southern Legal History, Vol. III (1994); "A Judge's Swan Song," ABA Judges' Journal, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Summer 1994); "A Judge's Swan Song," Carolina Lawyer, p. 37 (Nov.-Dec. 1992); Real Life Case Studies in Political Correctness, International Society of Barristers Quarterly, Vol. 40, No.3 (2006); “Turning the Tide,” Legends, p. 39, Vol. 17, No. 1 (2006); “How the lord God Bird Saved the Swamp,” Garden & Gun, p. 124 (Spring 2007). Participant in the production and performance of numerous Public Television programs, including the late William Buckely’s “Firing Line”; Biography of John Belton O’Neall, contained in Yale University’s Biographical Dictionary of American Law; “Who We Are Is Who We Were,” a speech published the University of South Carolina’s Ex Libris Society; “William S. Stevens (1948-2008) and The Common Law Origins of the Infield Fly Rule,” Charleston Law Review, Vol. __, No. __ (20__); “How Baseball United America After the Civil War,” Charleston Law Review, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Winter 2012-13).
Other Academic Experience:
Chair, Board of Directors and one of five Founders, the Charleston School of Law.
Board of Visitors, College of Charleston, 1987-1992.
Chair, committee established by the Will of Thomas Rhodes to nominate candidates for the Rhodes Scholarship, 1990-1991.
Trustee, Thomas Cooper Library Society, University of South Carolina, 1989-1992.
Trustee, South Carolina Commission on Higher Education Foundation, 2005-2015.
Founder and Board Member, Lightsey Society (supporting higher education in South Carolina), 2006.
Member of the three person American Bar Association committee to advise the University of Virginia Law School Graduate Program for Judges, 1989-1991.
Graduation speaker, several colleges and universities, including, among others, the College of Charleston, the University of South Carolina, Wake Forest University, the University of Virginia, and Tulane University.
Miscellaneous
Who’s Who in the World.
Who’s Who in America.
Harvard Club of New York City.
Cambridge, Massachusetts, Who’s Who, 2008.
Francis Salvador Award in recognition of his leadership, human understanding, and stance on tolerance, 2008.
Commitment to Justice Award, Center for Heirs Property Preservation, 2012.
Licensed Alligator Hunter (practicing “catch and release”), 2008.
Life Member, Circus Hall of Fame, Peru, Indiana.
Charter Member, The Flying Trapeze Association.
Associate Member, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Special Recognition by the New York Knicks NBA team, 1993.
Founding Sponsor, Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial.
Member, Academy of American Poets, 2013.
War Horse Award, Southern Trial Lawyers Association, “Presented to one of the nation’s top courtroom advocates”
American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) Champion of Justice Award
Legal Services Pro Bono Award, Charleston, Gerry Kaynard
As a small child, once introduced to Mr. Joseph Jefferson Jackson, a/k/a Shoeless Joe Jackson.
Military Service:
U.S. Army, active duty 1957, active reserve 1957-1962, inactive reserve 1962-1965, honorably discharged February 28, 1965, highest rank attained E-4 (corporal).
Immediate Family:
The late Zoe Dutrow Sanders (1938-2026) wife of 62 years, church worker, community activist, author of Entertaining at the College of Charleston.
Zoe Caroline Sanders, daughter. Former President, National Association of Women Lawyers, and mother of two children, William Norman Nettles, Jr., and Alexander Sanders Nettles, born December 18, 2003.