| Faculty Information: |
|
Harry Hancock
The Honorable Angela Abstance
Family Court Judge, Second Judicial Circuit
Judge Angela Abstance is the child of Bobby Wood and Susan Myrick, both formerly of Barnwell. She attended Barnwell public schools and received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Furman University in 1998. Judge Abstance attended the University of South Carolina School of Law, where she served on the Environmental Law Journal. She graduated in 2001 and began her general practice of law at the Moore Law Firm in Barnwell, South Carolina, handling civil litigation, real estate, and probate matters. During that time, she also practiced extensively in Family Court, representing parties in private actions, serving as counsel for parents in abuse and neglect cases, and later serving as the attorney for the Guardian ad Litem program. In 2008 she went to work for the South Carolina Department of Social Services handling abuse and neglect cases in the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit. Judge Abstance opened her own practice in Barnwell in 2014, where she focused on Family Law. Judge Abstance is a certified family court mediator. She served as a contract attorney for the Commission on Indigent Defense and represented parents in abuse and neglect actions. She was elected to fill the unexpired term of the Honorable Dale Moore Gable on February 7, 2018.
Christine Bruno
Center for Family Representation
Christine Bruno is a Litigation and Training supervisor at the Center for Family Representation (CFR). She is primarily responsible for training new staff, and she directly supervises staff attorneys and participates in various training and policy initiatives with CFR staff and outside agencies. Christine began working at CFR as a staff attorney in 2007. Before joining CFR, she clerked for in the Family Part in Bergen County, NJ for the Hon. Ellen Koblitz. She attended the CUNY School of Law at Queens College. In law school, she participated in the Battered Women’s Rights Clinic, the law review, and interned at several non-profit organizations, including CONNECT and the Welfare Law Center. She attended Montclair State University and holds a B.A. and M.A. in Practical Anthropology.
Jill Aquino
South Carolina Department of Social Services
Jill Aquino is a Regional Coordinator at the Department of Social Serives. She works with the SC Family First Family Group Conferencing Program. Family Group Conferencing (FGC) is a practice that believes that families are often best able to make decisions about their own family. With the support of SCDSS and the community, the family will develop their own plan to make sure the emotional & physical safety and well being of their children are met.
Shrounda Selivanoff
Children’s Home Society of Washington
Shrounda Selivanoff is the Director of Public Policy at Children's Home Society of Washington. Her experience as a kinship caregiver to her grandson led to her desire to destigmatize parents and move toward a system that empowers and values parents as partners. Ms. Selivanoff’s work prioritizes marginalized and disenfranchised families and supports policy changes and system reforms that preserve and strengthen families. She has extensive experience working with the King County Parents for Parents Program, Washington State Office of Public Defense Parents Representation Program, Perinatal Treatment Services, and the University of Washington Fetal Alcohol Drug Unit Parent-Child Assistance Program. Ms. Selivanoff is a recipient of the 2021 Casey Excellence for Children Award – Casey Family Programs and the 2021 Unsung Hero Award from Strengthening Families Washington in partnership with Seattle’s Child.
Shannon Chandler
The Honorable Ronald Norton
Family Court Judge, Fifteenth Judicial Circuit
Judge Ronald Norton grew up in Clio, South Carolina. He attended public school in Clio and graduated from Clio High School in 1970. He attended the University of South Carolina where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974 and graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law, Columbia, South Carolina, where he received his Juris Doctor in 1977. Upon graduation from law school, Judge Norton practiced law in Beaufort County, South Carolina, for eight years prior to relocating to Horry County, South Carolina. He practiced in Horry County, South Carolina, from 1985 until his election to the Family Court in 2008.
Tracy DaCruz
Esquire Wellness, LLC
Tracy DaCruz possesses 20 years of appellate litigation, legal research and writing, and criminal defense experience. Ms. DaCruz has worked as an Appellate Law Clerk and Central Staff Attorney at the Florida Fifth and Fourth District Courts of Appeal and as a Trial Court Staff Attorney in the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit in Seminole County, Florida. Prior to opening her appellate litigation practice, Ms. DaCruz served as an Appellate Attorney and Assistant Federal Public Defender at the Federal Defenders Office, Middle District of Florida. In addition to handling appellate and criminal defense litigation, Ms. DaCruz is an adjunct professor at Palm Beach State University where she has taught Legal Writing and Research II and Criminal Litigation. Ms. DaCruz is also the owner of Esquire Wellness, LLC, where she promotes attorney wellness, presents attorney wellness seminars and CLEs, and designs law firm wellness programs.
|