Indigo Family Law

Bios

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  Brana Williams

  Partner

  Younger versions of Brana Williams never envisioned her doing this, and certainly not here. She had other plans in bigger cities. Yet, Williams can now lay claim to a successful career in the Myrtle Beach area that has set her apart. The Founder and Partner of Indigo Family Law has earned the trust of thousands with a commitment to clients, both professionally and personally. “Here’s the deal – you’ll find out that I am what I am. This is who you get,” Williams said. “I think part of my obligation to our client is to be honest and straightforward. I have a duty to do that. They need to understand that part of what we do isn’t just from an analytical or legal point of view, but from a personal point of view.” Williams’ views started on a sprawling farm off U.S. 701 halfway between Conway and Georgetown. There were acres of corn, tobacco and soy intermixed with some livestock, the family making the most of its available means. Those views were then further crafted when she attended Pleasant Hill High School (which later merged with Choppee to form what is currently Carvers Bay High School in Georgetown County), then again at Francis Marion, where she earned a dual degree in Finance in Marketing. Law School at the University of South Carolina introduced her to the law, as did her first job in the Anderson area for a small firm immediately after. Up until that point, Williams had always wanted to be in a large area, putting her analytical mind to work. She found that opportunity in a sales position that frequently led her to Charlotte. In 1998, though, everything changed. Williams’ father, Winfred, passed. It stemmed a yearning to return to the Grand Strand. And to the law. In order to get closer to family and roots, she became an Assistant Solicitor in Horry and Georgetown Counties, prosecuting cases for the 15th Circuit. In 2001, she left to hang her own shingle at the Williams Law Firm, the precursor to Indigo Family Law. Over the years, the name and location have changed, as have some of the faces in the offices. The methodology for dealing with clients, however, has remained the same. “You’ve got to be be honest. You’ve got to be able to tell people the good, bad and the ugly. The client deserves to know what the real truth of the matter is,” Williams said. “Unfortunately in the law, there is very little black and white; most of it is grey. I tell people all the time if someone promises you something and they’re not wearing the black robe, you better run like a scalded dog. Because they don’t know, and they’re lying to you. We don’t do that.” It’s why Williams is so open about her path through life. It all led her to this point, in a job she never thought she’d have in a place she never again thought she’d call home.

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  Link: Brana Williams

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  Ryan Stampfle

  Partner

  I had a bit of an untraditional path to the law. I have a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and planned on using that to help pay for medical school or open my own home healthcare business. When I realized that medicine was not my calling, I chose a career in law. I began as an injury and accident attorney, utilizing my medical knowledge in medically sensitive cases. Life, however, changed some of my plans. As I branched out on my own life and family kept drawing my practice into the sphere of family law. My wife and I have two children. When my youngest was diagnosed with autism, I had to increase my focus on my family. With that increased personal focus on family, my practice began to change from one in which I practiced some family law to a practice with a primary focus on family law. I still enjoy accident cases and criminal cases, but my life is family focused and now, so is my practice. I formed Indigo Family Law with Brana Williams because we both shared a vision for a family first practice. I feel that in our community there is a need for a legal practice that has at its core protecting and preserving families both today and in the future. At Indigo Family Law we represent families going through difficult times like divorce and child custody, families whose loved ones have been arrested or injured, and now we are also helping families preserve their futures through legacy planning and wealth protection. As a husband, father, and attorney, I understand how important it is to live for today and to plan for tomorrow to protect your children. That is, in essence, the Indigo difference.

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  Link: Ryan Stampfle

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  Johana Bufford

  Paralegal

  Everything about Johana Bufford’s life has been a leap of faith. Studying the law. Moving to a new country. Choosing one friend over some family. Getting up enough courage to ask an attorney she didn’t know a few questions. The travel from Albania to the United States and ultimately Myrtle Beach was anything but a straight line for Bufford. The Indigo Family Law Office Manager and Paralegal, however, was never looking for easy. She was hoping to make a long-shot dream come true. “The United States is the wonderland, the land of opportunity,” she said. “Being as I was young, I wanted to explore that. It was a miracle.” It was one she worked for. And how she ended up Indigo is quite the story. After earning a Law Degree at the University of Tirana in the mid-1990s, she started with a firm there in Albania while simultaneously teaching labor law classes. On a whim, she applied for a U.S. Green Card. Her background fast-tracked an extensive interview and paperwork process via the U.S. Embassy; eventually, she was approved and elected to make the first leap. Not long after, she was at JFK Airport with another decision to make: Head to Chicago, where some of Bufford’s family had already taken up residence or follow an old friend from high school to the Grand Strand. The latter won out, and it led to a pair of service industry jobs. Some 18 months later, while working at a hotel lunch spot, she read a news clipping about a regular who happened to be a local attorney working on a death-penalty case. After a few quasi-surface conversations, she inquired about the American version of the craft she had already started. He offered her a job. For more than a decade, Bufford shadowed him and acclimated to South Carolina law – all the while earning full U.S. residency. In August of 2016, she joined on at Indigo Family Law alongside founding partners Brana Williams and Ryan Stampfle. “Johana was an amazing addition to the firm. Her legal training in another country, as well as being raised behind the Iron Curtain, gives her a different viewpoint,” Williams said. “Her unique perspective is such a bonus to our practice. She has such incredible integrity and her dedication to our clients is unparalleled.” In many ways for those clients, it is Bufford’s feet on the ground that helps Indigo run so smoothly. All it took for that to happen was lifting her own.

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  Link: Johana Bufford

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  Cindy Lemon-Scott

  Paralegal

  As the Myrtle Beach area has expanded its identity in the last 15 years, so, too, has Cindy Lemon-Scott. The Indigo Family Law Paralegal went from riding her motorcycle during a pair of local bike rallies to falling in love with the Grand Strand and deciding to make it her home. All the while, she became a paralegal and then increased her role and abilities. As the work load changed, it also become much more detailed. “[Indigo Attorney Ryan Stampfle] and I used to do more simple cases. We didn’t get into the contested ones,” Lemon-Scott said. “Now that we’re here, we see those a lot more. I see how in-depth the family law cases can get. It’s made me more aware of the finances, keeping them in order.” Lemon-Scott has worked alongside Stampfle since 2006, and although the two of them know the ins and outs of each others’ styles, she has also become a valuable resource to all of Indigo’s attorneys. She has worked across the specialties, not just in her preferred avenues of personal injury, criminal defense and family law. With all of them, she’s searched for ways allow her to relate to clients, and frequently that points right back at her own experiences: The childhood and first years of adult life in Western New York (Allegany, to be exact); having a grandmother who was Seneca Indian and her appreciation of her bloodlines; and a transition to South Carolina when and why she did. All of it has the ability to open the lines of communication. “When I talk to clients, I try to bring something personal, something that’s happened to me or something that’s happened to friends in the past,” she said. “It helps ease people’s minds. It’s not just them that a situation happened to.” Those past and current clients now understand Lemon-Scott has a profound effect on their cases, not only because of the relationship that can built, but also due to her commitment to expanding her own identity. Just like South Carolina’s Grand Strand.

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  Link: Cindy Lemon-Scott

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  Jim Arnold

  Chief Investigator

  Very much a bonus for our clients, Jim Arnold is our firm’s Chief Investigator. Jim is a retired police officer with over 30 years of law enforcement experience. He brings his considerable investigative and research skills to every case. Jim is also adept at searching through every case identifying technicalities and other legal issues. Every client of Indigo Family Law benefits from his experience.

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  Link: Jim Arnold

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  Katlin Floyd

  Attorney

  As a young girl she dreamed of nothing more than being a lawyer proving that in every argument until her point was made. Regardless of all the trouble the arguing would get her into, she knew one day it would lead to a life of happiness. Being raised in a conservative town furthered her back bone and pointed her in the direction to standing for what was right and never letting the truth be hidden. Spending long summers with her aunt and uncle who were small town farmers culminated a hot streak for lifting little voices and standing for the working class. Coming from the low country and spending most of her life in and around Georgetown County she built a fondness that would prove itself time and time again upon her return from exploring other parts of the state and country. After graduating from Georgetown High School, she attended Columbia College where she triple majored in Political Science, Public Affairs and History. After graduating from College, Katlin stayed home with her oldest daughter for a year before attending law school at Charleston School of Law. Upon graduation, while 6 months pregnant with her second child she thought, “this is it, I will finally achieve my goals”. However, life had other plans. This proved to be the fight she was looking for. As a wife and working mother Katlin struggled to pass the bar. After her divorce, Katlin truly believed she would never reach her goal of being an attorney. With a new husband, two children and a mountain of life on shoulders she eventually achieved her goal and passed the bar, turning her dreams into reality. When asked why Katlin chose to work with Brana Williams and Ryan Stampfle at Indigo Family Law she said, “They get it. They understand families, they understand the struggles that everyone goes through and truly want to help those who come into the office. It has been the best decision I have ever made!”

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  Link: Katlin Floyd

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  Diana L. Palumbo

  Paralegal

  Diana L. Palumbo is a paralegal with over fifteen years of experience. She has applied her skills to many areas of law including, family law, wills, trusts, estates, real estate, business law, and debt collection. For the past ten years, she has narrowed her focus to family law matters and, during that time, has handled a variety of simple and complex domestic relations matters, including cases involving divorce, custody, child support, property division, and other related matters. She obtained her Paralegal Certificate from SUNY Rockland County Community College and graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics & Law. Diana, who is originally from New York, has lived in Myrtle Beach since 2011 with her husband and two cats. In her spare time, she enjoys binge-watching a good Netflix series and spending time with family and friends.

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  Link: Diana L. Palumbo

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  Chris Dunning

  Client Concierge

  He graduated from Horry-Georgetown Technical College with an Associate’s Degree in Public Service in the area of Legal Studies. He chose Legal Studies because of the movie “To Kill A Mockingbird”. The movie connected with him because of the fact that sometimes in life you may have to fight the fight that cannot be won. Chris found that he truly connected to that aspect and wanted to help others and make a difference, even if it was only just for one person or family. The timing of the movie was perfect because Chris was a member of the first graduating class of HGTC’s Legal Studies program. Once Chris had the background in Legal Studies, the question became where was he going to use his knowledge to best help others? Before coming to work with Indigo Family Law he worked with the Horry County Clerk of Court Office for close to eighteen years and has gained various experiences with his years working in the Family Court system. During his time at the Clerk of Court Chris gained more knowledge of Family Court and wanted to find his perfect fit where his skills and knowledge would be best served. Chris had known Brana and Ryan for years before coming to Indigo Family Law because of his work in the Clerk of Court. When asked what made him finally make the leap over to join the team he said, “the reputation of Indigo Family Law was so that I felt that I would fit in well with the firm as I have a genuine desire to help people”. It has been the family dynamic that has kept him with the firm. “When I first started working with Ryan as his paralegal in 2006, Ryan and I were both ‘green’ to the family court process. If I needed assistance with something at the courthouse for a case, I knew that I could call or email Chris for help or he could direct me in the right direction. He was very prompt in responding to questions I would have or with providing back to us hearing notices when he was the Family Court Scheduling Clerk. If Ryan needed help at the courthouse for a case, he also knew that he could go to Chris and ask him for assistance.” – Cindy In his spare time Chris enjoys exploring new places with his family. You can often find him exploring the State Parks with his camera in hand waiting to get that perfect shot. During his time in school Chris took a few photography classes that have really stuck with him and have given him even more of a reason to get out and find new places. Chris finds there is one quote in particular that keeps him going throughout the day and that is “Sometimes, we’re tested not to show our weaknesses, but to discover our strength.” – Unknown

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  Link: Chris Dunning

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  Jessica L. Smith

  Legal Assistant

  Jessica L. Smith is fairly new to the legal world. She is starting her career as a Legal Assistant here at Indigo Family Law. She inspires to take her experience as a Legal Assistant and become one of our Paralegals. As a child living in Green Sea South Carolina, Jessica had always had an interest in law. She also knew she wanted to help others, she just wasn’t sure which avenue she wanted to take. When Jessica moved to Conway in 2000 she decided to enroll in HGTC to explore her interests in Legal Studies. “Mostly, I went into Legal Studies because I knew that there will always be someone in need of legal assistance. And, the thought of the role that I may play in reaching a resolution to make someone’s life better, is a job well done to me.” Jessica graduated from Horry Georgetown Technical College in 2020 with her Paralegal Degree. After graduation the question became where did Jessica see herself working and getting the most out of her degree and experience. That’s when she found Indigo Family Law. “I chose Indigo Family Law because I love to help others. As I researched the firm, I noticed all the great ways that Indigo Family Law has helped their clients. I read all the inspiring reviews from previous clients and I knew that this would be a great place to start my career in the Legal field. Not only does this firm dedicate themselves from start to finish, they do it with dignity.” In Jessica’s free time she enjoys spending time catching up with her son, family and friends. They enjoy simply sitting on the porch together just enjoying each other. A quote that has always stuck with Jessica is, “Go on and have yourself the most wonderful day. But, even if you can’t, don’t you dare go messin’ up nobody else’s”. – Tabitha Brown

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  Link: Jessica L. Smith