Charleston defense lawyer Andy Savage has long been the guy who you want on your side if you are in real trouble. In his illustrious five-decade career, he’s worked with everyone from cold-blooded murderers and fraudsters to grieving families and survivors of cold-blooded shootings.
By this time next year — probably sooner — he’ll be retired, hanging up his legal spurs after 50 years in the state’s courtrooms. He’ll spend more time with his wife, Cheryl, four children and 10 grandchildren. He’ll read. He’ll relax a bit. And he’ll remember the good he says is in everyone, not the bad some of them have shown.
Keys to success
Looking back, Savage says the best thing he learned that made him a much sought-after attorney came from two years of driving a taxi in New York City as a student at Fordham University. He said he learned to listen and communicate with a wide variety of people.
“There’s something intimate about a cab driver and a passenger because you don’t know them,” he said earlier this month, adding that many of his fares seemed to be in some kind of personal crisis.
“A great attribute to driving a cab is listening,” he said. “People just wanted to be acknowledged and empathized with and sympathized with. And I’m talking about a cross-section of people. … People have a desire to communicate. It’s an element that helped me a lot — just listening.”
Savage, 77, is a native of Kingston, N.Y., where his father, a civil engineer, was a key player in maintaining New York City’s revered water reservoirs, and his mother taught at the Wiltwyck School for Boys, a reform school with links to Eleanor Roosevelt.
“I had a lot of opportunities I wouldn’t otherwise have had because it was a private institution,” recalling when he met people like boxer Floyd Patterson and singer Harry Bellafonte.
Later at Fordham, Savage remembers working at a New York deli. He still thinks about one customer who didn’t talk much but communicated with her eyes. Sometimes, when she reached for change, he could see the concentration camp tattoo on her arm. It helped him understand that everyone has a backstory.
More helpful experiences came while working as a law clerk at Kirkland Correctional Institution in Columbia while a student at the University of South Carolina School of Law.
After law school, Savage started work at the Fifth Circuit Solicitor’s Office in Columbia to prosecute crimes by prisoners. Then he became a regular prosecutor. And it wasn’t long before he went to work for the late S.C. Attorney General Dan McLeod, where he became chief trial counsel in the office’s criminal division.
In 1980, Savage moved to Charleston after his wife, Jacque, was diagnosed with leukemia. They thought it would be better for her, a Charleston native, to be closer to family. She passed away the following year, the same year Savage went into private practice.
By 1986, Savage ran for Charleston County Council in the days before single-member districts — and won. His public image soared as he became adept at fielding media inquiries in two areas — legal issues and county business.
“I really enjoyed it,” recalled Savage, who served two terms. “I didn’t run (again) because I do believe in term limits, but more importantly, we were trying to get African Americans in office.”
Remarried to Cheryl Savage that year, Savage then turned his attention to his growing practice.
The goodness inside everyone
Many people may not realize Savage doesn’t take every case that walks into his office. He’s selective — in part because he can be — but also because he prefers cases in which those facing legal troubles will work to help themselves to deal with underlying issues that led to the trouble.
For a person caught in the legal system, “that’s the most important thing in their life,” Savage said. “Empathy is just as important, no matter what your client has been charged with.”
Through the years, Savage said he has learned cases have two components — the legal case against a person as well as whatever happened before an incident led to the legal issue.
For example, if it’s a sex case or an alcohol case, there likely is a need for counseling or treatment for a sex or alcohol issue. And Savage requires people to work on the underlying problems if he agrees to try to help with legal troubles.
“I’ve always said that if you get health intervention for alcohol or sex or whatever the issue is, the health intervention helps you — but it also helps your criminal case,” he said. Dealing with core issues will “make you a better person, but it’s also going to pay dividends on your criminal case.”
Investing in personal growth and getting on the right path is hard, Savage admitted. “It’s often said that being on Andy’s pre-trial release is tougher than the state trial.”
He said some of the best “paychecks” he’s ever received were from parents of former clients who report how a son or daughter turned around their life after the legal case was over.
Savage said every case is new and different. But no matter how horrendous the headlines may be, everyone has goodness inside them.
“I need to find the goodness and make a connection with it.”
For years, that’s when he has gotten down to work. But no more. He’s not taking new cases. Fortunately, he says, Charleston has a lot of good lawyers.
Memorable cases
Mary Lynne French. Savage represented the teenager accused with her boyfriend of murdering the Cottageville police chief in 1989. She was acquitted.
Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri. Detained for six years in the naval brig in Hanahan, Savage represented the Qatari citizen during a 2009 federal conspiracy plea that led to an eight-year prison term.
Kate Waring. Savage hired private investigators in 2009 who tracked down what happened in the death of Kate Waring, daughter of a prominent Charleston family. He also sued law enforcement agencies.
Al Parish. Savage represented the former Charleston Southern University economist. He was released in 2021 after spending 12 years in federal prison for defrauding investors of millions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme.
Michael Slager. The North Charleston police officer found guilty of shooting Walter Scott in the back in 2015 received a 20-year prison term.
Emanuel slaying. Savage represented three survivors and family members of the six victims of the Emanuel AME Church shootings in the 2015 racist killing spree that left nine dead.
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