NATIONAL CRIMINAL DEFENSE COLLEGE ALUMNI

Derek Bush was born in Summerville, South Carolina and grew up in North Charleston, South Carolina. He graduated from Fort Dorchester High School in 2007. Upon graduation, he attended the University of South Carolina, where he graduated magna cum laude in 2011 with a B.A. in Sociology with a Minor in Religious Studies.

After graduating from the University of South Carolina he attended the Charleston School of Law where he received his Juris Doctor in 2014. While attending the Charleston School of Law he was the Associate Editor-in-Chief of the Federal Courts Law Review, the President of the Trial Advocacy Competition Board, a Member of the James L. Petigru American Inn of Court, and the recipient of the Arthur Gasque Howe Trial Advocacy Award upon graduation. After graduating from law school, he worked at Cain & Williams, LLC in Seneca, South Carolina practicing workers compensation, car accident, medical malpractice, and probate matters. In June of 2016 he left private practice and moved to Aiken, SC to pursue his calling as a Public Defender in the Second Judicial Circuit (Aiken, Barnwell, and Bamberg Counties).

In 2019, he was named one of the Aiken Standard’s Young Professionals to Follow and graduated from the National Criminal Defense College Trial Practice Institute. In 2021, he graduated from the South Carolina Bar Association Leadership Academy. He has served as the South Carolina Bar Association House of Delegates Representative for the Second Circuit since 2019 and has served as a Council Member for the South Carolina Bar Association Criminal Law Section Council since 2018. He is a past Vice President and President of the Aiken County Bar Association – and remains in local bar leadership currently serving as the Secretary.

He serves as the defense lawyer for the Aiken County Adult Drug Court Program and the Aiken County Mental Health Court Program. He is an annual presenter at the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense Public Defender 101 Training Program and has presented at the Charleston School of Law on multiple occasions. He is also a board member for the Family and Marriage Coalition of Aiken (FAMCO).

Derek’s true joy in life is being married to his wife Brooke and raising their daughter and son. Together they own a health and wellness company focused on changing healthcare to well care. When he’s not in the office he enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter, exercise, Gamecock football, and his Tuesday Night Bible Study Group.