Avery Douglas Upchurch

Avery is a member of the Motley Rice medical litigation team. She is currently part of the group representing plaintiffs alleging they developed gynecological cancers after using certain chemical hair relaxers in MDL 3060 In re: Hair Relaxer Marketing Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation. Avery is also part of the teams working on complex litigation for victims who’ve suffered an increased risk of cancer from exposure to Roundup® and serious health effects including Parkinson’s disease from exposure to Paraquat.

Prior to joining Motley Rice, Avery built extensive experience in the legislative and lobbying arenas. She is an experienced legislative counsel with governmental relations experience at the federal, state, and local levels. Avery served as an attorney and lobbyist for the South Carolina Association of Counties, advocating for county-initiated policies on behalf of 46 counties to the South Carolina General Assembly. She also worked as the legislative liaison with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, working directly with state legislators and government leadership on environmental and health legislation. Avery’s federal government experience includes serving as junior counsel for the U.S. Senate’s Energy and Natural Resource Committee, which included overseeing the Presidential nomination process, and as a legislative assistant with the U.S. Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee.

During law school, Avery clerked for the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District with Judge Mark D. Pfeiffer. She interned with U.S. Senator Tim Scott’s office and was a Teaching Assistant for Professor Josh Eagle’s Coastal Law course and field labs. Avery also served as the Symposium Editor for the South Carolina Journal of International Law and Business, as well as a South Carolina Probate Court Special Visitor, and was a Student Attorney within the Nonprofit Organizations Clinic.

She is a member of the 2025 Cohort of the Local Government Leadership Institute and a Program Advisory Committee Member of the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC) Renewable Energy Siting through Technical Engagement and Planning (R-STEP) Project which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.