Erin D. Dean

Erin earned her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and her Juris Doctor at the University of South Carolina. While in law school, she was a member of the Order of the Wig and Robe and the recipient of the American Jurisprudence Award for Conflict of Laws. Upon graduation, Erin moved to Beaufort, South Carolina to serve as Law Clerk to the Honorable Jackson V. Gregory, South Carolina Circuit Court, from 1992-1994. Upon completion of her clerkship, she joined the firm’s predecessor, Davis, Tupper and Grimsley, LLP as an associate attorney. Erin became a shareholder in May of 2001, and the firm was reformed as Tupper, Grimsley & Dean, P.A. In 2014, Stacey P. Canaday became a shareholder of the firm and the name changed to Tupper, Grimsley, Dean & Canaday, P.A. in 2017. With Ned Tupper and Jim Grimsley transitioning to ‘Of Counsel’ status as of January 1, 2024, the firm was reclassified as Tuper, Grimsley, Dean & Canaday, LLC. Erin’s practice is concentrated in the area of insurance defense litigation, as it has been for over thirty (30) years. She is admitted to the South Carolina Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina and the Supreme Court of the United States.

During her tenure with the firm, Erin has served as an Executive Officer of the Beaufort County Bar Association beginning in 2003 and is a Past President (2006-2007). She was a member of the Executive Committee for the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys’ Association from 2004 to 2016. She remains an active member of the organization. She is also a member of the South Carolina Bar Association, the South Carolina Women Lawyers Association, the Defense Research Institute and the Association of Defense Trial Attorneys and was inducted into the American Board of Trial Attorneys in 2019. She was recently elected to the Secretary/Treasurer position in 2024. Erin was also listed as a 2024 South Carolina Super Lawyer in the area of civil litigation defense.

Combining her passion for the law with her desire to serve her community, Erin serves as the Multi Jurisdictional Court Judge in an effort to rehabilitate — rather than incarcerate — those individuals with substance abuse and mental health issues (Associate Judge from March 11, 2011 – January 1, 2013, Judge January 1, 2013 – present). She also serves as the Judge for the Beaufort County Veteran’s Treatment Court.

Erin is also very active in her community and served as the 63rd Annual Beaufort Water Festival Commodore, an all-volunteer-run festival celebrating life in the Lowcountry, now in its 68th year. She led the committee that organized the City of Beaufort’s 300th Birthday Celebration in 2011-2012. Erin has been a member of the Technical College of the Lowcountry’s Advisory Committee for the Paralegal program since 2010.  She is a 2003 graduate of the Leadership Beaufort program. She has also served on the board of the Citizens Against Domestic Abuse (CODA), Hope Haven (serving those with severe Physical or Sexual Abuse), and has served for multiple terms on the board of United Way of the Lowcountry.