Descended from an old and respected South Carolina family, Coming Ball Gibbs, Jr. was born in Charleston in 1936. He graduated from St. Marks Episcopal School in Southborough, Massachusetts, and then attended Princeton University, where he graduated with a bachelors degree in Politics in 1958. He returned to South Carolina to attend the University of South Carolina Law School, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1961. Upon graduation, Mr. Gibbs became a law clerk to Judge Clement Haynsworth of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
After his clerkship, Mr. Gibbs commenced practice with his father in Charleston as a member of Gibson, Gibbs and Krawcheck and, thereafter, Gibbs, Gaillard, Rowell and Tennenbaum. In 1983, he formed the law firm of Gibbs & Holmes with Allan Holmes, where he practiced until his death in 2012.
Mr. Gibbs was an active and esteemed member of the Bar, with a reputation as one of the top criminal lawyers in the State and was named one of the best criminal defense lawyers nationwide by the "Best Lawyers in America" for many years. He was very active in Bar matters, and served as President of the Charleston Young Lawyers Club and the Charleston County Bar Association. He was involved with the development of the Neighborhood Legal Assistance Program, a federally funded program for indigents. He was awarded the Compleat Lawyer Award of the South Carolina Law School Alumni Association, an award established to recognize alumni for their outstanding civic and professional accomplishments and for exemplifying the highest standards of professional competence, ethics and integrity. Mr. Gibbs was also the recipient of the first James Louis Petigru medal by the Charleston County Bar Association. He was a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a selective, invitation-only association of trial attorneys dedicated to recognizing excellence in trial lawyers.
At his death, Mr. Gibbs was a member of the Saint James Santee Episcopal Church in McClellanville. He will always be remembered by his fellow lawyers and Charleston citizens as a brilliant, sympathetic, and compassionate lawyer.