Lance Oliver is a trial lawyer who litigates class actions, mass torts, and other complex matters. He has experience with all phases of litigation from complaint to verdict, to appeal. Lance has a special interest in the voir dire process (jury selection) and pretrial jury focus groups. He splits his practice between securities and consumer fraud class actions, and mass tort litigation involving defective products.
Lance has served as trial counsel in a variety of cases, including talcum powder cases, securities fraud class action cases, and tobacco cases. In 2021, Lance was also co-lead trial counsel in In re Twitter Securities Fraud Litigation in the Northern District of California. The case settled in 2022 for $809.5 million* mere days before going to trial. Institutional Shareholder Services ranked this as a top 20 settlement in securities fraud cases since the enactment of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act.
Lance also led a trial team that secured a verdict of more than $1 million* for a smoker’s widow in a wrongful death suit against tobacco giant Philip Morris and successfully defended the verdict on appeal to the Fourth District Court of Appeals in Florida. In Berger v. Philip Morris USA Inc., Lance and co-counsel secured a verdict of more than $27 million* for a client who fell victim to the cigarette company’s marketing campaigns targeting children at the age of 14. Lance and team defended this verdict through multiple rounds of appeals over a five-year period, finally securing full recovery for their client only after she had passed.
Lance is currently litigating securities fraud, products liability and consumer fraud cases. In particular, he is involved in the Social Media Addiction Litigation pending in the Northern District of California directed at holding social media giants responsible for alleged harms their products have caused children and schools.
After law school Lance served as the law clerk for the Honorable James Hughes Hancock (deceased) of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Alabama, and prior to joining Motley Rice in 2007, Lance served as an associate in the Washington, D.C., office of a national law firm.
Lance is recognized as an AV Preeminent rated attorney by Martindale-Hubbell . He previously served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Dee Norton Child Advocacy Center and the American Lung Association Local Leadership Board for the Charleston area. He is also a member of both the Motley Rice Hiring Committee and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.
*Please remember that every case is different. Any result we achieve for one client in one matter does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.
Awards, Accolades & Recognitions
South Carolina Lawyers Weekly
2021 Leadership in Law Honoree
Lawdragon
2019-2025 Lawdragon 500 Plaintiff Financial Lawyers
Securities & Consumer Fraud Class Actions, Product Liability
Super Lawyers
2013-2018 South Carolina Super Lawyers Rising Stars list
Securities litigation; Class action/mass torts
The National Trial Lawyers
2016 Top 100 Trial Lawyers South Carolina
Benchmark Litigation
2022 Plaintiff Litigator of the Year
2022 Impact Case Award
Blog Posts
December 1, 2020
Lung cancer rates in non-smokers continue to increase Causes, Not Just Cases
by: Lance Oliver
November 20, 2017
Shining a Light on Lung Cancer Awareness Causes, Not Just Cases
by: Lance Oliver
October 4, 2016
Who will take the blame in the age of autonomous vehicles? Causes, Not Just Cases
by: Lance Oliver
News
April 28, 2025
The history and legacy of Workers’ Memorial Day
by:
M. Nolan Webb
January 31, 2024
Motley Rice files lawsuit claiming lead in applesauce poisoned two children
by: Motley Rice
