Municipal Court Judges

Judge Ned Tupper

Judge Tupper has served as a part-time judge in Beaufort since 1987. He is a partner with Tupper, Grimsley, Dean & Canaday, PA, and has practiced law in Beaufort since 1978.  He is also a certified mediator. 

Judge Tupper currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Newberry College, on the South Carolina Bar’s Memory Hold the Door Committee, and on the Penn Center Advisory Board. He previously served on the Executive Committee of the S.C. Bar’s Senior Lawyer Division, as a member of the Beaufort County Joint Planning Commission, on the board of Beaufort Jasper Comprehensive Health Services, on the board of the Beaufort County Arts Council, and as an officer in the Beaufort County Bar Association.  He has also served as an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina Beaufort.

Judge Tupper grew up in Montclair, N.J., and Southampton, N.Y. He received his undergraduate degree from Newberry College, and his J.D. from the University of South Carolina. He has also previously served as Dean of Admissions at the University of South Carolina School of Law, and as an attorney/advisor for the United States Tax Court, in Washington, D.C.  

Judge Mary Sharp

Judge Mary Sharp has served as a part-time judge for Municipal Court since May 2000. She is the founder of Sharp Law Firm, where she represents individual and corporate clients in a wide variety of civil litigation matters. She is also a certified mediator. 

Judge Sharp is a past president of the South Carolina Bar, and has served on the S.C. Bar Board of Governors since 2014. She is a past president of both the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations and the South Carolina Women Lawyers Association (SCWLA). She previously served on the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Bar Foundation. Judge Sharp is also a past president of the Charleston, S.C., Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and a past chair of the board of Lowcountry Legal Volunteers.

She was honored by SCWLA in 2019 with its annual Jean Galloway Bissell Award, and as one of 10 South Carolina “Leaders in the Law” in 2009 by South Carolina Lawyers Weekly. 

 Judge Sharp is a native of Aiken, S.C., and received a B.A. from North Carolina State University and her J.D. from the Wake Forest University School of Law.