After graduation Ellis earned a law degree from the University of South Carolina and is a partner in the Greenville, S.C., firm of Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, where he has toiled for 32 years. Whatever you do, don't cross him: Best Lawyers in America lists Ellis under business litigators.

His wife, Mary, has a doctorate in history and architectural preservation, and they have three children: Trip, a Duke grad with a law degree from Georgetown; Caldwell, a USC grad; and Anne Marie, who graduated from Georgia. Trip is a lawyer and the other two are realtors.

Ellis’s hobbies are golf and fishing, and he and Mary have a second home in Caesar’s Head, S.C.