Dr. Steve Shaw was elected to represent District 20 in 2020. Steve has been a resident of Greenville County for the past 17 years. He is currently serving on the Roads, Infrastructure, and Public Works and Communications-Intergovernmental Affairs Committees. He's also a liaison to the state lawmakers Delegation.
Steve's entire education focused on real estate, land use, planning, and law: his undergraduate is in Real Estate from the Florida State University College of Business with a focus on development and valuation. During that time, he was also elected to represent the College of Business in Student Senate and also President of the Navigators Christian campus ministry. Right out of undergrad, he was hired by U.S. House of Representatives Member Cliff Stearns on his Congressional staff. Following that, he returned to the Florida State University to complete his Master of Science in Urban and Regional Planning. He put himself through that degree doing commercial and residential appraisals for major lenders and using his Florida Real Estate Broker's License. Thereafter, he entered the University of Florida College of Law in Gainesville and focused his coursework on land use, real estate, environmental, and government topics. After law school, he was an associate at a downtown Orlando law firm. Still having educational zeal, he spent the next five years completing a traditional on-campus, earned Ph.D. from the University of the Florida College of Design, Construction and Planning. His dissertation topic was Fairness of School Impact Fees.
Steve is an associate with Guest & Brady in South Carolina and retains his solo law practice in Florida. He is admitted to both the South Carolina and Florida Bars, as well as the United States District Courts (District of South Carolina and Northern District of Florida), United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, United States Court of Federal Claims, and the United States Supreme Court. He served on the Greenville County Board of Zoning Appeals in from 2019 through 2020.
Another interest is the protection of the fundamental right to keep and bear arms under the 2nd Amendment. In 2008, Steve first published Shaw's South Carolina Gun Law and he continues to publish annual editions. Shaw's book is considered "the" gun law book in the state and the only one like it in the South Carolina Supreme Court, the University of South Carolina School of Law, Charleston School of Law, and the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy libraries. He also organizes the annual South Carolina Gun Law Seminars for attorneys and judges at the Charleston School of Law and Wofford College. For his efforts on behalf of legal gun owners and possessors in South Carolina, Governor McMaster gave Steve the Order of Palmetto - the state's highest civilian honor.
Steve is married to Melanie Moore-Shaw and has six nieces and nephews. He spends a considerable amount of time and effort mentoring pre-law college students. For hobbies, he enjoys guitar and covering songs with other performers. He prefers non-motorized sports like cycling, rollerblading, sailing, and working-out but is also a PPG2 rated powered paragliding pilot and enjoys flying in the Upstate mountains and in Florida.
Steve spends a good bit of his week talking directly with residents of District 20. He believes that this connection with residents will help to ensure that Greenville County leads the nation in freedom, livability, and business. The best way to contact him is through email at Greenville County Council meetings at County Square.
