Meet Lowcountry Lawyer, Ben Shelton
Attorney Ben Shelton, Shelton Law Firm
A small-town attorney with big results
Written & Published By Celebrate Hilton Head
The legal side of what Ben Shelton does for his clients began in 2008 when he started his career as a prosecutor in the 14th Judicial Circuit. But when it comes to everything else he does for his clients, that started with his youth spent in Danbury, North Carolina, a small town in the foothills of about 100 people, a few miles from the tobacco farm where his grandfather was raised with no running water or electricity. He spent much of his childhood in fields and around tobacco smokehouses.
“Danbury didn’t have preschools,” Shelton said. “Instead, I had a caregiver who lived on a tobacco farm who kept me while my parents worked. She was like a third grandmother to me.”
There, Shelton would help with tasks that were deemed appropriate for young children—gathering and setting wooden stakes and twine, picking vegetables and berries, and even priming tobacco leaves at the end of the season, always leaving those fields with his jeans caked with the red-clay soil.
“You never forget your roots and how hard folks have to work to make a dollar. I try to always keep that in perspective when working for people who at times have lost their ability to make a living because of an injury or have lost a home or business that they have spent their life working towards.”
That foundation of hard work would eventually carry Shelton to the law. He entered undergrad school with his mind set on pursuing a legal career but first chose to follow in his family’s footsteps and pursue a B.A. in music. He would go on to perform professionally (“at bars at night and in church in the morning”) and teach music before enrolling in the Charleston School of Law.
“My mother and father were public music teachers and are true artists. I never broke my mama’s heart like I did when I told her I was going to law school,” he joked. “My foundation was music—it is a passion and skill set I will always carry with me. It also made for a well-rounded education, forcing me to train and practice, to think creatively, to problem solve, and to work with others. I can’t think of a better way to train a trial lawyer than learning the dedication and time it takes to train for a performance where you get one shot at reaching people.”
Shelton’s early legal career found him on the prosecutorial side of the law, but over time he found his true calling in pursuing personal injury and insurance claims for people in need. “They really run together. As a prosecutor, you’re a plaintiff for the state. Here, rather than enforcing the criminal laws of the state, I’m prosecuting a civil case on behalf of the client,” he said. “Instead of a sentence, I am seeking a monetary judgment or other relief from the court on behalf of individuals and businesses.”
It’s a shift that not only puts his lifetime of hard work and dedication to the test but allows him to channel it in a way that is literally changing lives. “Being able to help people understand their rights and give them personal attention and understanding in their time of absolute need is what drives me. You can’t put the pieces back together, but you can help them move forward,” he said. “Having a client come up and thank me years later—that sort of thing—lets me know that what I’m doing is bigger than myself.”
Shelton may not be working in those red-clay fields anymore, but ask any of his clients and they’ll tell you that the seeds of hope he plants offer a far more enriching yield.