Chris Schoen

Chris Schoen brings to private practice a rare combination of courtroom experience and analytical ability: years as a federal prosecutor handling the government’s most serious criminal cases, two federal judicial clerkships, and a civil litigation background spanning complex business disputes, media law, antitrust, and False Claims litigation.

As an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) for the District of South Carolina, Chris served as a federal prosecutor from 2017 through 2026, handling a broad range of serious and complex federal crimes. He prosecuted cases involving criminal conspiracies, international gun trafficking and other firearms offenses, drug and human trafficking, robbery, extortion, murder for hire, RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations), VICAR (Violent Crime in Aid of Racketeering), and post-conviction capital cases — including representing the United States in post-conviction proceedings in United States v. Dylann Roof. He also has experience working on health care fraud and cybercrime investigations.

Over the course of his tenure, he tried numerous cases to verdict in Greenville and Charleston and handled complex cases across South Carolina’s three largest federal venues — Greenville, Columbia, and Charleston — and has successfully briefed and argued appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

That prosecutorial experience gives Chris an insight that is invaluable to the clients he serves. Having built and tried the government’s cases, he understands how federal investigations develop, how prosecutors think, and where cases can be challenged and won.

Before joining the United States Attorney’s Office, Chris served as a litigation associate at one of South Carolina’s most prestigious law firms, where he handled a wide range of civil matters, including defending media companies against defamation and First Amendment claims, antitrust litigation, qui tam actions under the False Claims Act, medical malpractice, minority shareholder oppression, and complex business disputes. He also clerked for two federal district court judges — the Honorable C. Weston Houck and the Honorable Bruce Howe Hendricks — both of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina.

Among his most significant courtroom experiences, Chris served on the defense team in a two-week capital post-conviction habeas trial. He also was part of a defense team that secured a rare not-guilty verdict in federal court on a drug conspiracy charge.

Chris is particularly proud of his work with the District of South Carolina’s problem-solving courts — its federal drug court and its reentry court — which emphasize treatment, community engagement, and immediate accountability over lengthy prison sentences.

Chris graduated magna cum laude from Furman University in 2007 and received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2010.