The Supreme Court of South Carolina

Request for Written Comments

The South Carolina Bar has proposed amending Rule 13(a) of the South Carolina Rules of Criminal Procedure to permit lawyers to issue and sign subpoenas. Currently, the rule provides the clerk of court shall issue subpoenas or subpoenas duces tecum at the request of a lawyer or party.

After a review of the Bar's submission, the Court is considering modifying the Bar's proposed amendment and including a Note to the amendment for submission to the General Assembly in accordance with Article V, Section 4A of the South Carolina Constitution. The proposed changes are set forth in the attachment. 

Persons or entities desiring to submit written comments should submit their comments to the following email address, rule13comments@sccourts.org, on or before November 21, 2017. Comments should be submitted as an attachment to the email as either a Microsoft Word document or an Adobe PDF document.

Columbia, South Carolina

(a) Issuance of Subpoenas. Upon the request of any party, the clerk of court shall issue subpoenas or subpoenas duces tecum for any person or persons to attend as witnesses in any cause or matter in the General Sessions Court. An attorney, as an officer of the court, may also issue and sign a subpoena or subpoenas duces tecum for any person or persons to attend as witnesses in any cause or matter in the General Sessions Court. The subpoena shall state the name of the court, the title of the action, and shall command each person to whom it is directed to attend and give testimony, or otherwise produce documentary evidence at time and place therein specified. The subpoena shall also set forth the name of the party requesting the appearance of such witness and the name of counsel for the party, if any. The clerk of court or attorney issuing the subpoena shall utilize a court-approved subpoena form.

.     .     .

Note to 2018 Amendment:

The 2018 amendment provides that an attorney is also authorized to issue and sign a subpoena on behalf of a court in which that attorney is licensed to practice. The rule allowing an attorney to issue and sign a subpoena does not apply to any request for a subpoena for a witness located in another state, which is governed by the Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings. See S.C. Code. Ann. §§ 19-9-10 et seq. (2014).