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Department of Sociology

Featured Alum Justin Bamberg, '09

Justin Bamberg graduated from USC with a Bachelor's degree in Sociology in 2009.  

He went on to earn a Juris Doctor from USC School of Law in 2011, and in 2014 was elected to the SC House of Representatives, representing state legislative district 90.  Justin's legislative priorities have consisted of access to affordable healthcare for citizens of rural South Carolina, addressing rising tuition costs, pay wage increases for state employees, addressing the inequities in primary level education throughout the state as depicted in the 2015 Abbeville decision, as well as fixing SC's crumbling roads and bridges.

While attending Law School, Justin served as a Law Student Ambassador, was a member of the USC Trial Advocacy Bar, was co-director of BLSA's Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial team, and was a member of the Black Law Students’ Association executive board. He also interned with the Honorable Clifton Newman, Chief Administrative Judge for the 5th Judicial Circuit, and clerked with the Richland County Solicitor’s Office.  Justin is currently licensed to practice law in South Carolina state court and the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, and he is a trial lawyer with Lanier & Burroughs, LLC in Orangeburg, S.C.,

Most recently, Justin undertook representation of the family of Walter Scott, an unarmed man shot in the back while running away and killed by a North Charleston police officer; as well as Bryant Heyward, a 26 year old Hollywood man shot in the neck and paralyzed by a Charleston County sheriff's deputy after calling 911 to report a home invasion.

In addition to practicing law, Justin serves on the Board of Directors for the Healing Species, Inc., a non-profit organization aimed at reaching at-risk elementary school aged children and inmates in the SC Department of Corrections through compassion education and violence intervention. He is a member of the S.C. Bar Association and serves on its Diversity in the Bar Task Force. Justin also serves as the Third Vice Chair for the Bamberg County Democratic Party.

Of his undergraduate days at USC, after taking Sociology 101 (Introductory Sociology) as a freshman, Justin changed his major to sociology (from civil engineering). He credits his sociology education with his analytical thinking skills and the ability to evaluate competing theoretical positions while developing his own position. As an undergraduate, he recalls “being in the   sociology department was more than just having a major, it was being a member of a community.”


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