We began this law practice to provide excellent representation to people who need it and to empower clients with the ability to make the informed decisions that impact their lives.  As experienced attorneys, we believe that it is our job to clear away the mystery and misconceptions while also making the complexities of the system as simple and as easy to understand as possible.  We will lay out your options in clear terms and let you decide how to proceed with your case.  We do our best to make common sense of the legal process.  

Reliable, hard-working presentation that makes a difference!

Areas Of Practice

Arie D. Bax, Esq.

Arie D. Bax graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and English in 2000. He graduated USC School of Law in 2003.  While attending law school, Mr. Bax traveled abroad where he studied law for a semester at Oxford University in Oxford, England.  Immediately following law school, he served as an Assistant Attorney General for the state of South Carolina. During his time at the Attorney General’s Office, he handled PCR cases for the state from 2003-2005. In that time, Mr. Bax tried hundreds of cases in a non-jury setting before many circuit judges in several counties around the state.

In January of 2006, Mr. Bax left the Attorney General’s Office to take a position as an Assistant Public Defender for Lexington County, SC in order to try cases before juries in state court.  He was with the Lexington Public Defenders office as Lead Trial Attorney from 2006-2008 and during that time tried well over two dozen cases to verdict before juries, including a capital (death penalty) case in 2007.  As the number of trials that he advocated in grew, Mr. Bax began to learn more and focus more on the forensic sciences that were being offered up as evidence in many of the trials. Through consultation with other experienced attorneys and through study and research, Mr. Bax began to master the knowledge and skills that now make him one of the foremost authorities on defending against forensic evidence in criminal trials.  In August of 2008, Mr. Bax left the Lexington Public Defender’s office and formed the law firm that became The Bax Law Firm, PA.

At that time, the firm was based in Columbia, SC but in 2011, he moved the firm’s headquarters to Beaufort, SC.  In private practice, Mr. Bax represented clients in civil, criminal, and family courts all over the state, as well as magistrate, municipal, and various administrative courts. Mr. Bax also represented clients in federal Social Security Disability cases and Federal District Court in criminal matters brought by the US Attorney’s Office. Starting in 2010, Mr. Bax began to work closely with the SC Bar Continuing Legal Education Division to develop and instruct seminars teaching criminal law to attorneys who are either new to the practice of law or new to criminal practice. At the request of several local public defenders and the 14th Circuit Public Defender at that time, he left private practice to be an Assistant Public Defender for Beaufort County in April, 2013. 

During his service as a Beaufort County public defender, Mr. Bax once again tried many cases to verdict before juries in criminal circuit court, including several high-profile, media-covered cases that were prosecuted personally by the elected 14th Circuit Solicitor. In January of 2017, Mr. Bax finished his service with the public defenders in Beaufort and reentered private practice at The Bax Law Firm. Currently, Mr. Bax continues to practice in the areas of civil litigation, state and federal criminal defense, criminal and Post-Conviction Relief appeals, family court litigation, DUI, Social Security Disability, and Wills, Trusts, and Estates. Mr. Bax also consults frequently on forensic and criminal procedure matters across South Carolina and continues to lecture at a variety of continuing legal education seminars, having presented on several topics at over a dozen different events, including the 2017 Bar Convention, where he presented once again on the subject of forensic evidence in criminal trials to an audience comprised primarily of the SC Judiciary.

S. Naki Richardson - Bax

S. Naki Richardson- Bax, known to friends and colleagues alike as Naki, is a native of Charleston.  As the daughter of an Army veteran, she has lived in several places in South Carolina, including Columbia, and is proud to now call Beaufort her home.

 As Naki grew up and was educated in South Carolina’s public schools, she learned that hard work and smart choices were her greatest gifts.  She graduated cum laude from South Carolina State University with a B.S. in Criminal Justice.  After her graduation, Naki worked briefly as a paralegal with South Carolina Department of Social Services Child Support Enforcement Division while waiting to enter her master’s program. When it came to her education, Naki did not back down from any challenge.  Naki left her native South Carolina and headed to the big city.  She attended the New York City University’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice from which she received her Master’s of Arts from their prestigious Forensic Psychology program.  After conquering the challenge of NYC, Naki returned to SC and went on to receive her law degree from the University of South Carolina. It was there that she met her future husband and law partner.

 After graduation, Naki became a member of the North Carolina Bar and later the South Carolina Bar in 2006.  Naki briefly engaged in real estate law before becoming the first law clerk for former Circuit Court judge, The Honorable J. Michelle Childs (currently of the United States District Court).  After clerking with Judge Childs, Naki became a member of the York County Public Defender’s office at which time she represented individuals with a variety of criminal offenses, ranging from misdemeanors to felony cases.

She came out in private practice with her husband in early 2009 in Columbia, SC.  In 2011, she and her husband moved their law practice back to her beloved Low Country. Since coming back to the low country Naki has focused on primary interest, criminal defense work, in both state and federal jurisdictions. Naki has successfully defended clients charged with offenses that range from murder to simple assault and battery.  She has represented numerous individuals charged with DUI and drug charges as well as those who have been charged Domestic Violence, Burglaries and Armed Robberies.

She has also extensive experience in some of the most emotional and trying cases, the domestic relations cases (family law).  Those cases ranged from child support cases to Termination of Parental Rights, Divorce, and Custody matters. Naki also engages in worker’s compensation, civil litigation, social security, and immigration law. 

PROFILE

S. Naki Richardson-Bax 
S.C. Bar member
N.C. Bar member
Federal Bar Member

EDUCATION

B.S. Criminal Justice
South Carolina State University

M.A. Forensic Psychology
John Jay College- City University of New York

J.D
University of South Carolina School of Law

POSITIONS HELD

Judicial Law Clerk
The Honorable J. Michelle Childs, then At-Large Circuit Court Judge, now U.S. District Judge

Assistant Public Defender
Sixteenth Judicial Circuit Public Defender’s Office

Associate
The Bax Law Firm, PA