William H. Kleindienst is a Partner in the Charleston office of GRSM. He focuses his practice on advising companies in product liability, asbestos/talc litigation, real estate, environmental, employment, and business transactions. He routinely works with clients in environmental litigation, products liability, real estate, commercial litigation and business transactions. His practice includes providing legal counsel to companies in manufacturing, real estate, construction, architecture, engineering, technology, food & beverage, and retail. He also represents public sector agencies and municipalities in a wide variety of legal matters.
In his real estate and business transactions practice, he drafts and negotiates documents in connection with the disposition, acquisition, leasing, and financing of commercial property, negotiates and drafts office, industrial, and retail leases, handles review of title, issuance of title insurance, survey, and due diligence issues, and works with clients on related commercial real estate transactions. He has extensive knowledge of advising clients on industrial commercial properties that have unique and historical environmental contaminants (including Brownfields, Landfills, and CERCLA) and the legal issues and remediation surrounding these properties. He works with the Business Transactions practice group on mergers and acquisitions and has a wide variety of experience with commercial transactions.
William attended New York Law School where he was appointed to the Moot Court Executive Board and co-authored the Robert F. Wagner Moot Court Competition – the nation’s largest labor and employment competition. He clerked with the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Solicitor and with the Honorable Devin P. Cohen in the New York, Kings County Civil Courthouse. He also lived in Barcelona, Spain and studied at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in 2008.
When he is not practicing law, he can be found playing tennis, boating Charleston’s waterways, at his partner’s design studio, or spending time with their two pugs.
Admissions
- South Carolina
- United States District Court for the District of South Carolina
Memberships
- The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association
- The Urban Land Institute, South Carolina
- South Carolina Municipal Attorneys Association
- The American Bar Association
Community Involvement
- Charleston County Board of Assessment Appeals, Chair, 2014-present
- Palmetto Community Care, Pro Bono Attorney, 2014-present
- S.C. Equality Litigation Task Force, Pro Bono Attorney, 2015-present
- Palmetto Society of Human Resource Management, General Counsel, 2016-2018
- North Charleston Housing Authority, Vice-Chair, 2018-2022
- Alliance for Full Acceptance (AFFA), Board Member, 2023-present