R. Bruce Wallace

Bruce represents a variety of banking and financial institutions in real estate litigation, commercial litigation, and mortgage foreclosures. He also represents insurers and corporate clients in bad faith and coverage issues, professional liability, business litigation, as well as fiduciaries in probate litigation matters (including trusts and estates).

Bruce actively participates in the Defense Research Institute, where he is the past program chair for the Professional Liability Committee. In the past, Bruce served as Online Community chair, Annual Meeting chair, and vice chair of the Lawyer Malpractice SLG of the Professional Liability Committee, and chair of the D&O and E&O SLG of the Commercial Litigation Committee.

Bruce is a certified Circuit Court mediator and approved mediator for the United States District Court. He also served on the South Carolina Bar Association's Board of Governors from 2017 to 2020.

Community & Professional

• Defense Research Institute
  • Professional Liability Committee 
    • Program Chair, 2019 
    • Program Vice Chair, 2018
    • Communities Chair, 2016-2017
    • Vice Chair, Legal Malpractice Substantive Law Group, 2013-2015
  • Commercial Litigation Committee 
    • Chair, D&O and E&O Substantive Law Group, 2008-2012
• South Carolina Bar
  • Board of Governors, 2017 - 2020
  • Law Related Education Committee
  • House of Delegates, Ninth Circuit, 2004-2017
  • Chair Elect, Trial and Appellate Advocacy Council Section, 2016
  • Nominating Committee, 2012-2014
  • Professional Liability Committee
  • Diversity Committee
• Charleston County Bar Association 
• Federal Bar Association 
  • South Carolina Chapter Board of Directors, 2008-2012
• Lowcountry Citizens Committee on Judicial Qualification, 2003-2007

Outside Maynard Nexsen

Bruce is actively engaged in his church, having previously served on the vestry. He now volunteers in his church’s men’s ministry. When his boys were younger, Bruce held several leadership positions in their Cub Scouts pack. Now, when he gets some spare time, Bruce enjoys hunting, hiking, biking, reading, and traveling. His favorite two hikes so far are (outside SC) Arches National Park near Moab, Utah, and (inside SC) Yellow Branch Falls near Mountain Rest, SC.

Reported Decisions:

Accident, Injury & Rehab., PC v. Azar, 943 F.3d 195, 200–01 (4th Cir. 2019) – CMS reimbursement litigation.  Fourth Circuit held the district court possessed subject matter jurisdiction to hear medical provider’s claim for injunctive relief.

• Listed in Charleston Business Magazine's "Legal Elite" of the Low Country - Insurance & Estate and Trust – Litigation (2022-2023)
• Listed in Best Lawyers in America as "Lawyer of the Year" for Litigation - Insurance (2017, 2020, 2025)
• Listed in Best Lawyers in America for Commercial Litigation and Litigation - Insurance (2015-present)

• Martindale-Hubbell AVVO, Top Rated Lawyer AV-Preeminent

• Listed in Super Lawyers for Commercial Litigation (2008-2009, 2016-2022)
• Recipient, University of South Carolina Compleat Lawyer Award, Gold category (2020)

Bruce is a frequent author and speaker. He is the author or co-author of several CLE publications and speaks at CLE seminars.

Defending Lawyers in the Age of Cynicism: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in South Carolina Legal Malpractice Actions, March 2019

South Carolina Lawyer

• Co-Author, Roadmap to Collection – How to Navigate Debtor Exemptions in South Carolina, approved for publication, S.C. Lawyer, September 2018

• Show me the Money: Collecting Judgments Against the Savvy Judgment Debtor, September 2016
• Serving the Master: Challenging the Authority Power or Jurisdiction of the Master-in-Equity, January 2015
• "With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies? Getting out of Default is Never Easy", November 2013 

DRI – The Voice of the Defense Bar

• Strategies to Obtain Early Settlement of General Aviation Claims, Co-author, Skywritings, May 2014
• "Going Deeper – South Carolina Expands the pool of Plaintiffs in Estate Planning Malpractice", November 2014
• South Carolina chapter on the Collateral Source Rule & Compendium for Professional Liability Insurance, DRI (2012)
• Regional Editor, Unfair Trade Practices Compendium, DRI (2005)
• Co-author, Using Non-Reliance Clauses in Defense of Fraud Claims, The Business Suit, 2006

Bruce’s Case Notes

SC Court of Appeals Holds that Intervenor Rights Trump Plaintiff's, August 2016