The Hon. Brian B. West is a magistrate for the Berkeley County Summary Court in South Carolina. He was appointed to the bench by former Governor Nikki Haley in 2015.
The summary court presides over landlord/tenant hearings, summons and complaint cases (to claim disputed funds), claim and delivery cases (to reclaim property), and public sales of abandoned vehicles. Its magistrates also hear criminal and traffic cases, issue warrants and set bonds, and hold preliminary hearings and transfer cases for the county.
West earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from The Citadel in 2007. He then completed a J.D. at Charleston School of Law in 2013.
After graduating from law school, West began his legal career as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. R. Markley Dennis, Jr., of the 9th Judicial Circuit Court of South Carolina. He served in that capacity until 2014, at which time he opened his own private practice as a sole practitioner. West has handled personal injury, family law, wrongful death, land dispute, and probate matters.
West was born and raised in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, where he hails from a long line of attorneys. Two of his grandparents established law practices in the town in the 1940s and 1950s. Shortly after, two of their children, John West and George Bishop, followed in those footsteps.