CHARLESTON, S.C. — A former legal assistant at the Ninth Circuit Public Defender’s Office in Charleston, S.C., is charged with impersonating a lawyer, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said.
SLED charged Lashonda Charlen Ravenell, 37, on Monday, Oct. 5. The 9th Circuit Solicitor’s Office asked the state agency to investigate, and that office will prosecute the case. Ravenell was booked into the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center in Charleston County.
According to an arrest affidavit, Ravenell was in a three-vehicle crash on Interstate 26 on Sept. 11, 2025, and later received a civil settlement from another party’s insurer. On Feb. 4, 2026, she sent a letter to the owner of the at-fault vehicle demanding $8,180 for her damages, the affidavit says.
Investigators allege she signed that letter as a senior assistant public defender and used the public defender office letterhead on both the letter and the envelope while she worked there as a legal assistant. The state bar has no record of her being licensed to practice law in South Carolina, according to the affidavit.
A charge is an accusation, and Ravenell is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. It was not immediately clear whether she had an attorney.
