The Institute for Southern Studies welcomed former Chief Justice Jean H. Toal as the 2024 McNair Honoree on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, at the Joseph F. Rice School of Law’s Karen J. Williams Courtroom.

Hosted by the Institute for Southern Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, the conversation explored Toal’s remarkable career in law and public service, including what it takes to become a leading jurist in the South and how a Southern woman navigated the highest levels of law and politics to become South Carolina’s first female Chief Justice.

The McNair Conversations on the American South are hosted annually by the Institute for Southern Studies. Made possible by the generosity of the late South Carolina Governor Robert Evander McNair, the series features live podcast interviews honoring individuals who have made lasting and significant contributions to the American South. The conversations are recorded before an audience and later shared through the Institute’s Take on the South podcast series.

Jean Toal, the 2024 McNair Honoree, is a political and legal trailblazer. When she graduated from USC Law School in 1968, she was one of only eleven women actively practicing law in South Carolina. During her distinguished career, Chief Justice Toal argued cases before the United States Supreme Court, served in the South Carolina House of Representatives for thirteen years, became the first female Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court in 1988 and became Chief Justice in 2013. Her achievements remain significant and enduring, and few have left such a lasting mark on the state.

The 2024 McNair Conversation was recorded and scheduled to air later on the Take on the South podcast.