Mary D. Shahid

Mary Shahid is an environmental law attorney who brings extensive real-world experience to her practice.  Before joining Nexsen Pruet in May of 2011, she was in private practice in Charleston since 2002.

Prior to entering into private practice, she was Chief Counsel of Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC).  Before that, Ms. Shahid served as General Counsel for the South Carolina Coastal Council, the agency that became OCRM.

In those roles she gained extensive experience working on matters related to environmental permitting, property disputes and real estate litigation.

Ms. Shahid's representative work includes:

• Defending title companies on claims arising from coastal regulation
• Public utility permitting
• NPDES permits 
• Stormwater compliance
• Environmental permitting for land owners and developers with special emphasis on wetlands
• Represents parties before the Administrative Law Court in permitting disputes
• Represents permit applicants before State and Federal agencies such as DHEC and the Army Corps of Engineers
• Actively practices before the Board of Health & Environmental Control
• Clean Water Act citizens suit 

Ms. Shahid has represented clients before the S.C. Court of Appeals and the S.C. Supreme Court on matters such as:

• Environmental regulation
• Statutory and regulatory interpretation
• Public trust
• Due process
• Regulatory takings

• In Jerry H. Risher v. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, Ms. Shahid was lead counsel for a property owner whose permit to construct a bridge over wetlands was affirmed by the South Carolina Supreme Court.   
• In the Clean Water Act citizen's suit, Deerfield Plantation Phase II-B Property Owners Association, Inc. v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. EPA; Deertrack Golf, Inc., a Federal Judge affirmed a Corps of Engineers jurisdictional determination on property owned by Ms. Shahid’s clients.  The property was a closed golf course, offered for sale for residential development.  Shahid’s clients were happy with the Corps’ actions, as the JD was limited to .37 (37/100ths) of an acre of an 80 acres site.  The POA representing property owners who surrounded the golf course and who were opposed to redevelopment challenged the Corps’ decision and claimed that the Corps should have asserted jurisdiction over every pond, channel, and ditch located on the golf course.  This would have rendered the property difficult to redevelop.  The District Court affirmed the Corps’ findings and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, in an unpublished opinion, upheld the District Court and the Corps.  The opinion, while unpublished, is helpful in illustrating the standard of review by federal courts of challenged agency actions.

In Estate of Patricia S. Tenney v. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management and the State of South Carolina, the South Carolina Supreme Court "removed a roadblock that for years has thwarted the placing of docks or other structures on the state’s marsh islands."  Ms. Shahid represented property owner Patricia Tenney.

• "Seabrook neighbors draw line in sand"
  The February 4, 2013 edition of Charleston's The Post and Courier pictured Nexsen Pruet attorney Mary Shahid along with a caption reading "Seabrook beachfront property owner Bill Sansom hired attorney Mary Shahid (pictured) to appeal a permit to recut Capt. Sam’s Inlet."
• Nexsen Pruet Elects Six New Members
  Nexsen Pruet has elected six attorneys as Members (Partners) of the firm effective January 1, 2013.
• 13 Nexsen Pruet Attorneys Named “Lawyer of the Year” for 2013
  Thirteen Nexsen Pruet attorneys have been named as a "Lawyer of the Year" for 2013 by Best Lawyers in America®.
• Nexsen Pruet Attorneys Named to the 2013 Edition of Best Lawyers in America®
  Nexsen Pruet attorneys have been named to the Best Lawyers in America® list for 2013.
• Eight Nexsen Pruet Attorneys Named as “Lawyer of the Year” for 2012
  Legal publication The Best Lawyers in America ® has named eight Nexsen Pruet attorneys to its list of the “2012 Lawyers of the Year.” They are Cherie Blackburn, Henry Brown, Mark Knight, Susi McWilliams, Rick Mendoza, Ed Menzie, David Senter and Mary Shahid.
• 62 Attorneys Named to the 2012 Edition of Best Lawyers®
  Nexsen Pruet is proud to announce that 62 of its attorneys have been named to the 2012 edition of Best Lawyers®.
• "State loses ownership of marsh islands"
  The May 6th edition of South Carolina Lawyers Weekly features an article entitled "State loses ownership of marsh islands." It details a SC Supreme Court ruling in fovor of a woman represented by attorney Mary Shahid.
• Nexsen Pruet Expands Environmental Practice; Mary Shahid Joins Charleston Office
  “Over the past two decades, Mary has been at the epicenter of business needs and environmental protection in South Carolina,” said Environmental Practice group chair Tommy Lavender. ”Her knowledge of the law and experience in working with regulators will be a big benefit to the clients we serve across the state.”

• "The Specter of Spectre: Impacts of the Coastal Management Plan and the APA"
  Attorney Mary Shahid co-authored an article for the Southeastern Environmental Law Journal, a publication of the University of South Carolina Shool of Law.