Sharita Cannon Associate

About Sharita

Sharita is an associate in the firm’s Mount Pleasant, South Carolina office, where she has the privilege of representing victims who have been tragically affected by mesothelioma. Prior to joining MRHFM, Sharita, a Maryland native, began her legal career as a Project Attorney at Motley Rice law firm in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, where she worked on the ongoing and complex Opioid Epidemic Litigation. She was responsible for helping to prepare Attorney Generals in several different states for depositions. She drafted deposition preparation memorandums related to potential deponents, researched discovery documents of interest and created summary reports, and drafted memorandums for defensive discovery. Thereafter, she became a Solicitor for the Ninth Circuit Solicitor’s Office. Handling a very diverse and multiplex caseload, she was responsible for preparing criminal cases for trials, hearings, and pleas in the court of General Sessions. In representing the state of South Carolina in criminal mattes and proceedings, she coordinated with other state agencies to assure appropriate resolutions and/or placement of criminal offenders.

Sharita received her law degree at Charleston School of Law, where she graduated summa cum laude and served as Assistant Research Editor for the Charleston Law Review, Executive Editor for the Southern Journal of Policy and Justice, an Academic Success Fellow, a Legal Research and Writing Fellow, Vice President of the Christian Legal Society, member of the Honor Council, member of the Phi Alpha Delta Fraternity, International, and member of the Black Law Student Association. Sharita also served as a Research Assistant to talented and renowned author and professor, William Janssen. During her time working with Professor Janssen, she assisted with the research and drafting of a writ of certiorari submitted to the United States Supreme Court in the case of Hoffman v. Nordic Nats., Inc., 837 F.3d 272, 275 (3d Cir. 2016), cert. denied, 137 S. Ct. 2296, 198 L. Ed. 2d 725 (2017). She also assisted with research for one of many of Janssen’s books titled, “A Student’s Guide to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure,” 2017 - 2018 edition.

During her time at Charleston School of Law, she also became the sole founder of a community service outreach program called “PB&J Sundays” (now renamed “Unity in the Community”) in which she fed the unhoused in the local community. She also co-authored an article titled, “Money Bail and the State of Pretrial Justice in South Carolina,” which was published in the South Carolina Lawyers Magazine, January 2019 edition.

Ms. Cannon received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Augusta State University where she majored in Political Science and minored in Criminal Justice.

Outside of the office, Sharita spends her free time reading, writing poetry, crabbing, visiting water parks in the summer months, hanging out with friends and family, and relaxing with her fiancée, Bernard, and their German Shepherd, Ziggy.

Sharita is a member of the South Caroliana Bar Association and is currently seeking admission into the Maryland Bar Association.

Experience

She began her legal career in law school, working as a Law Clerk for Steinberg Law Firm in downtown Charleston, SC, a plaintiff’s personal injury firm. She was responsible for gathering and organizing medical records, bills, and other reports, drafting demand letters, pleadings, and discovery requests.

She continued her legal career in law school, working as a Law Clerk for O’Shea Law Firm in James Island, South Carolina, in the plaintiff’s personal injury division. She was responsible for drafting records requests, demand letters, pleadings, and assisting with discovery requests and responses. She also helped with document review, legal research on a wide variety of criminal and civil practice areas and drafted interoffice memorandums on complex and novel legal issues.

She continued her legal career as a Project Attorney at Motley Rice law firm, working on the ongoing and complex Opioid Epidemic Litigation.

Just before working at MRHFM, she was a Solicitor for the Ninth Circuit Solicitor’s Office, representing the state in criminal matters and proceedings, including several criminal trials.