A Legacy of Courage
Knowledge of the law, extraordinary work ethic, deep intellect, persistence, and creativity are all traits that make good lawyers. But the defining characteristic of a great lawyer is courage.
Growing up around lawyers and in his early years of practicing law, John C. Few was privileged to observe, and later practice alongside and against, some of the best lawyers in the South. Many of the lawyers who appeared before Few when he was a trial and appellate court judge were also great lawyers.
The moments Few remembers most vividly from all these years of being around great lawyers, though, are not the masterful cross-examinations or brilliant closing arguments we tend to think of as defining great lawyers. Rather, Few remembers the moments when great lawyers displayed courage.
One particular case involved a young girl who had been sexually abused and trafficked by members of her own family. Few studied how the girl developed courage as the trial progressed.
John Few accepts a replica of the lanterns on the steps of the Supreme Court, traditionally given to retiring Justices by the South Carolina Supreme Court Historical Society, August 10, 2026.
“Understandably, the girl was struggling to have the courage to come into the courtroom and face the man who did this to her. They weren't going to be able to convict this man without her testimony. Her lawyers helped encourage this little girl to find her own strength. They used their own courage to make her brave, and I'll never forget that moment.”
The moment became the seed of a lifetime study of the concept of courage, and a speech — The Courage of a Lawyer — that Few would go on to deliver to lawyers' groups from Florida to California and many states in between.
Few studied the history of courageous lawyers like Waties Waring, Thurgood Marshall, Matthew Perry, and the men and women who inspired courage within them — some lawyers and some not. In the speech, he traced the inspiration of courage passed down from heroes and mentors ultimately to the great lawyers of today, concluding "we draw a great and rare courage from each other."
“As men and women, but particularly as lawyers, we are armed with more than the heritage of courage those before us have shown. We are also armed with hope, that the lives of those we touch will be strengthened and enabled by our courage and our work. Our courage lives on. What more could we want out of a professional life than that?”
—John C. Few
“The Courage of a Lawyer”
Throughout his career, Few has led with courage. As he returns to private practice, Few brings that same standard — the courage he witnessed, studied, and was inspired by — to every case he takes.
Few's speech — though written 20 years ago — was recently published in the book THE AMERICAN CRISIS IN CIVILITY (2026) by attorneys Edward J. Currie and H. Mills Gallivan. An abbreviated article based on the speech was published years earlier in the American Bar Association (ABA) "Litigation" journal and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) quarterly journal "Voir Dire."
