James Fletcher Thompson 
Following three years of work in Washington, D.C. in a variety of political and public interest endeavors, Mr. Thompson returned to South Carolina to study law. While at the University of South Carolina School of Law, he served on the Board of Editors of the South Carolina Law Review. He graduated with a Juris Doctorate Degree in 1989 and joined his father, Fletcher D. Thompson, in law practice the same year.
Mr. Thompson’s study of South Carolina Adoption Law was published in the South Carolina Law Review in 1989. He has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of South Carolina School of Law teaching a course entitled “Parents, Children and the Law” from 1996 - 2001.
Mr. Thompson has received national and state recognition for his service on behalf of children and adoptive families. In 1999, the inaugural year of the award, Mr. Thompson and his father were recognized in Washington, D.C., with the “Angel in Adoption” award from the United States Congressional Coalition on Adoption. In 2005, Mr. Thompson was honored by the South Carolina Council on Adoptable Children as the Adoption Advocate of the Year, and in 2008 was inducted into the South Carolina Adoption Hall of Fame.
In 2001, Mr. Thompson was recommended by the President of the South Carolina Bar and appointed by the Governor of South Carolina as the sole private practice attorney to serve on the Adoptions Procedure Study Committee. This committee was formed through a joint resolution of the South Carolina House and Senate and was charged with amending the state adoption law. Again, in 2007, Mr. Thompson was the sole private practice attorney to be appointed by the governor to serve on the Children in Foster Care and Adoption Services Task Force.
Mr. Thompson is a Fellow of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. In February 2008, pursuant to the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, he became one of two attorneys in the Nation to achieve Hague approval from the Council on Accreditation as authorized by the United States Department of State.
Mr. Thompson is presently working on a book to be published by the South Carolina Bar regarding termination of parental rights [TPR], adoption and assisted reproductive technology.
Mr. Thompson also frequently lectures throughout the state and country on adoption, TPR, and child welfare issues for professional and civic groups and has served as a spokesperson on these issues for the media. Mr. Thompson also has testified before the South Carolina General Assembly on numerous occasions on adoption bills and other bills impacting families and children.
Mr. Thompson has served on the South Carolina Bar Judicial Qualifications Committee and is a Life Fellow of the South Carolina Bar Foundation. Mr. Thompson received an “AV” rating by Martindale-Hubbell, that publication’s highest distinction bestowed on a practicing attorney.
Mr. Thompson has volunteered his time with many civic, religious and child advocacy organizations, including the Children's Advocacy Center, The Ellen Hines Smith Girls' Home, The Family Care Council, the Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg, Leadership Spartanburg, the Episcopal Church of the Advent Foundation (past president) and the Spartanburg Lions Club (past president).
He is past president of the board of Regional Hospice and co-chair of the fund-raising campaign to build the Regional Hospice Home. He has also served as board member of Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System Foundation and on the Governance Committee of the Spartanburg Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees.
He is married and has three children. He is a member of the Episcopal Church of the Advent.
AREAS OF PRACTICE
Mr. Thompson has a selective civil trail practice representing people who have been harmed by the negligence of others.
Mr. Thompson also has an extensive practice involving children’s law including child custody, termination of parental rights and foster parent rights. The law of assisted reproductive technologies is also a central component of Mr. Thompson’s practice. His practice in adoption law covers all aspects of adoption including adoptions by step-parents, grandparents, and other in-family placements, international, adult, infant and agency adoptions.
AUTHORED WORKS AND PRESENTATIONS
South Carolina Adoption Law: Out of the Cradle into the Twenty-first Century; Author, 40 S.C.L. Rev. 767, 1989.
Parents, Children and the Law (Laws 631); University of South Carolina School of Law; Guest Lecturer, 1991-1994.
Private Adoptions; Faculty; South Carolina Bar Continuing Legal Education Division; April 1, 1994, Columbia, South Carolina.
South Carolina Council on Adoptable Children; Guest Lecturer on Adoption Law for statewide adoption information program; November 1994, Greenville; January 1995, Rock Hill; February 1995, Florence; April 1995, Columbia; September 1995, Aiken; October 1995, Columbia.
American Academy of Adoption Attorneys; Faculty; Presented survey of law for fourteen southern states at national convention; Atlanta, Georgia, April 1995.
South Carolina Department of Social Services; Guest Lecturer; Presented lecture on Termination of Parental Rights, Adoption and Foster Parents issues to agency social workers; September 1995.
Adoption: Ethical Considerations and Special Issues; Faculty, South Carolina Bar Continuing Legal Education Division; January 14, 1997, Columbia, South Carolina.
Assisted Reproductive Technologies: South Carolina Law in the Embryonic Stage; Author,
South Carolina Lawyer, March/April 1997.
Adoption Law in South Carolina; Faculty, Professional Development Network; January 14, 1999, Columbia, South Carolina.
Potholes on the Road to Adoption; Faculty, South Carolina Bar Continuing Legal Education Division; May 21, 1999, Columbia, South Carolina.
“Thorns in the Adoption Garden”; South Carolina Family Court Bench/Bar; Faculty, South Carolina Bar Continuing Legal Education Division; December 3, 1999, Columbia, South Carolina.
Adoption Law in South Carolina; Faculty, National Business Institute; November 16, 2000, Charleston, South Carolina; May 9, 2002, Charleston, South Carolina.
Orientation School for New Family Court Judges; Guest Speaker; Overview of South Carolina Adoption Law; 2002-2005, Columbia, South Carolina.
Adoption in South Carolina: Insight for the Non-legal Professional; Faculty, Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, Department of Education; November 21, 2002, Spartanburg, South Carolina; October 24, 2003, Columbia, South Carolina; November 5, 2004, Greenville, South Carolina; November 10, 2006, Columbia, South Carolina.
Family Law Training; Seminar Presenter, South Carolina Appleseed; Overview and Procedures regarding handling a DSS adoption; August 29, 2003, Columbia, South Carolina.
Adoption is Affordable to All--Here’s How; Seminar Presenter, South Carolina Bar Continuing Legal Education; September 23, 2005, Columbia, South Carolina.
Adoption Law & Practice in South Carolina; Faculty, Medical Educational Services, Inc.; Faculty, November 7, 2005; Columbia, South Carolina.
Adoption in South Carolina: Insight for the Non-legal Professional; Faculty, Medical University of South Carolina, Department of Education; November 11, 2005, Charleston, South Carolina.
Bond v. Blood: The Evolving Primacy of “The Best Interest of the Child” Standard and the Decreasing Role of the Biological Connection in TPR and Adoption Law; South Carolina Bar Convention; January 26, 2007, Charleston, South Carolina.
Opening of Adoption Records: What Every Lawyer Needs to Know; South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association; August 2, 2007, Hilton Head, South Carolina.
A New Route for Inter-country Adoption; American Academy of Adoption Attorneys; Annual Conference; A New Route for Inter-country Adoption; May 1, 2008, St. Louis, Missouri.
Adoption Laws in South Carolina, South Carolina Council on Adoptable Children 23rd Annual Adoption Conference “Pathways to Permanency,” May 8, 2008, Charleston, South Carolina.
Representing Foreign Nationals in SC Family and Criminal Court: International and Domestic Adoptions Involving International Parties; South Carolina Bar; July 25, 2008, Columbia, South Carolina.
Emerging Issues in Adoption; Presenter, Spartanburg Regional Department of Education; September 26, 2008, Columbia, South Carolina
Creating Families Forever: The How to of the Adoption; Presenter/Panelist, The South Carolina Bar - Continuing Legal Education Division, October 9, 2008, Columbia, South Carolina.
TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS/ADOPTION RELATED PUBLISHED APPELLATE CASES
Adoptive Parents v. Biological Parents, 315 S.C. 535, 446 S.E.2d 404 (1994); Amicus Curiae Brief to the South Carolina Supreme Court on behalf of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. This case involved interstate adoption issues and the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children.
Doe v. Clark, 318 S.C. 274, 457 S.E.2d 336 (1995); Case involved proper procedure for execution of a consent/relinquishment for adoption.
Doe v. Brown, 331 S.C. 491, 489 S.E.2d 917 (1997); Case involved underage birth mother and birth father. Was precursor to amendment of South Carolina Code Section 20-7-1572 (11). Was first birth father case following the Abernathy decision.
Alley v. Boyd, 337 S.C. 60, 522 S.E.2d 146 (1999); Case examined the abandonment section of the Termination of Parental Rights Statute.
Brown v. Malloy, 345 S.C. 113, 546 S.E.2d 195 (2001); Case examined “John Doe” birth father constitutional rights.
Doe v. Queen, 347 S.C. 4, 552 S.E.2d 761 (2001); Court found that the birth father had no knowledge of the pregnancy; Therefore was forgiven for lack of pre-placement support.
Arscott v. Bacon, 351 S.C. 44, 567 S.E.2d 898 (2002); This case established the law that birth father’s have an “affirmative duty” to learn of a pregnancy and to be “proactive in protecting their rights.” This decision also observed that “pre-placement conduct” of a birth father determines whether his consent is required.
Doe v. Ward Law Firm, PA., 353 S.C. 509, 579 S.E.2d 303 (2003); This case established the Family Court’s jurisdiction to appoint a confidential intermediator to obtain birth history on an adoptee.
Doe v. Roe, 369 S.C. 351, 631 S.E.2d 317 (2006); This case established that a birth father’s contributions to birth mother cannot be “insubstantial and inconsistent.”
McCann v. Jane and John Doe, 377 S.C. 373, 660 S.E.2d 500 (2008), Case described legal standard by which coercion/duress would be analyzed - - Court moved from “improper external pressure” to “totality of the circumstances.”
Michael Scott v. Melissa M., 378 S.C. 452, 663 S.E.2d 58 (2008), Case affirmed the Family Court’s termination of birth mother’s parental rights and established Court’s Jurisdiction to award attorney fees in the termination of parental rights case.
James Fletcher Thompson was born in Savannah, Georgia, on December 12, 1960. He graduated from Paul M. Dorman High School in 1979 where he was elected Student Body President. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Vanderbilt University in 1983 and served as President of the Student Government Association.
Following three years of work in Washington, D.C. in a variety of political and public interest endeavors, Mr. Thompson returned to South Carolina to study law. While at the University of South Carolina School of Law, he served on the Board of Editors of the South Carolina Law Review. He graduated with a Juris Doctorate Degree in 1989 and joined his father, Fletcher D. Thompson, in law practice the same year.
Mr. Thompson’s study of South Carolina Adoption Law was published in the South Carolina Law Review in 1989. He has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of South Carolina School of Law teaching a course entitled “Parents, Children and the Law” from 1996 - 2001.
Mr. Thompson has received national and state recognition for his service on behalf of children and adoptive families. In 1999, the inaugural year of the award, Mr. Thompson and his father were recognized in Washington, D.C., with the “Angel in Adoption” award from the United States Congressional Coalition on Adoption. In 2005, Mr. Thompson was honored by the South Carolina Council on Adoptable Children as the Adoption Advocate of the Year, and in 2008 was inducted into the South Carolina Adoption Hall of Fame.
In 2001, Mr. Thompson was recommended by the President of the South Carolina Bar and appointed by the Governor of South Carolina as the sole private practice attorney to serve on the Adoptions Procedure Study Committee. This committee was formed through a joint resolution of the South Carolina House and Senate and was charged with amending the state adoption law. Again, in 2007, Mr. Thompson was the sole private practice attorney to be appointed by the governor to serve on the Children in Foster Care and Adoption Services Task Force.
Mr. Thompson is a Fellow of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. In February 2008, pursuant to the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, he became one of two attorneys in the Nation to achieve Hague approval from the Council on Accreditation as authorized by the United States Department of State.
Mr. Thompson is presently working on a book to be published by the South Carolina Bar regarding termination of parental rights [TPR], adoption and assisted reproductive technology.
Mr. Thompson also frequently lectures throughout the state and country on adoption, TPR, and child welfare issues for professional and civic groups and has served as a spokesperson on these issues for the media. Mr. Thompson also has testified before the South Carolina General Assembly on numerous occasions on adoption bills and other bills impacting families and children.
Mr. Thompson has served on the South Carolina Bar Judicial Qualifications Committee and is a Life Fellow of the South Carolina Bar Foundation. Mr. Thompson received an “AV” rating by Martindale-Hubbell, that publication’s highest distinction bestowed on a practicing attorney.
Mr. Thompson has volunteered his time with many civic, religious and child advocacy organizations, including the Children's Advocacy Center, The Ellen Hines Smith Girls' Home, The Family Care Council, the Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg, Leadership Spartanburg, the Episcopal Church of the Advent Foundation (past president) and the Spartanburg Lions Club (past president).
He is past president of the board of Regional Hospice and co-chair of the fund-raising campaign to build the Regional Hospice Home. He has also served as board member of Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System Foundation and on the Governance Committee of the Spartanburg Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees.
He is married and has three children. He is a member of the Episcopal Church of the Advent.
AREAS OF PRACTICE
Mr. Thompson has a selective civil trail practice representing people who have been harmed by the negligence of others.
Mr. Thompson also has an extensive practice involving children’s law including child custody, termination of parental rights and foster parent rights. The law of assisted reproductive technologies is also a central component of Mr. Thompson’s practice. His practice in adoption law covers all aspects of adoption including adoptions by step-parents, grandparents, and other in-family placements, international, adult, infant and agency adoptions.
AUTHORED WORKS AND PRESENTATIONS
South Carolina Adoption Law: Out of the Cradle into the Twenty-first Century; Author, 40 S.C.L. Rev. 767, 1989.
Parents, Children and the Law (Laws 631); University of South Carolina School of Law; Guest Lecturer, 1991-1994.
Private Adoptions; Faculty; South Carolina Bar Continuing Legal Education Division; April 1, 1994, Columbia, South Carolina.
South Carolina Council on Adoptable Children; Guest Lecturer on Adoption Law for statewide adoption information program; November 1994, Greenville; January 1995, Rock Hill; February 1995, Florence; April 1995, Columbia; September 1995, Aiken; October 1995, Columbia.
American Academy of Adoption Attorneys; Faculty; Presented survey of law for fourteen southern states at national convention; Atlanta, Georgia, April 1995.
South Carolina Department of Social Services; Guest Lecturer; Presented lecture on Termination of Parental Rights, Adoption and Foster Parents issues to agency social workers; September 1995.
Adoption: Ethical Considerations and Special Issues; Faculty, South Carolina Bar Continuing Legal Education Division; January 14, 1997, Columbia, South Carolina.
Assisted Reproductive Technologies: South Carolina Law in the Embryonic Stage; Author,
South Carolina Lawyer, March/April 1997.
Adoption Law in South Carolina; Faculty, Professional Development Network; January 14, 1999, Columbia, South Carolina.
Potholes on the Road to Adoption; Faculty, South Carolina Bar Continuing Legal Education Division; May 21, 1999, Columbia, South Carolina.
“Thorns in the Adoption Garden”; South Carolina Family Court Bench/Bar; Faculty, South Carolina Bar Continuing Legal Education Division; December 3, 1999, Columbia, South Carolina.
Adoption Law in South Carolina; Faculty, National Business Institute; November 16, 2000, Charleston, South Carolina; May 9, 2002, Charleston, South Carolina.
Orientation School for New Family Court Judges; Guest Speaker; Overview of South Carolina Adoption Law; 2002-2005, Columbia, South Carolina.
Adoption in South Carolina: Insight for the Non-legal Professional; Faculty, Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, Department of Education; November 21, 2002, Spartanburg, South Carolina; October 24, 2003, Columbia, South Carolina; November 5, 2004, Greenville, South Carolina; November 10, 2006, Columbia, South Carolina.
Family Law Training; Seminar Presenter, South Carolina Appleseed; Overview and Procedures regarding handling a DSS adoption; August 29, 2003, Columbia, South Carolina.
Adoption is Affordable to All--Here’s How; Seminar Presenter, South Carolina Bar Continuing Legal Education; September 23, 2005, Columbia, South Carolina.
Adoption Law & Practice in South Carolina; Faculty, Medical Educational Services, Inc.; Faculty, November 7, 2005; Columbia, South Carolina.
Adoption in South Carolina: Insight for the Non-legal Professional; Faculty, Medical University of South Carolina, Department of Education; November 11, 2005, Charleston, South Carolina.
Bond v. Blood: The Evolving Primacy of “The Best Interest of the Child” Standard and the Decreasing Role of the Biological Connection in TPR and Adoption Law; South Carolina Bar Convention; January 26, 2007, Charleston, South Carolina.
Opening of Adoption Records: What Every Lawyer Needs to Know; South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association; August 2, 2007, Hilton Head, South Carolina.
A New Route for Inter-country Adoption; American Academy of Adoption Attorneys; Annual Conference; A New Route for Inter-country Adoption; May 1, 2008, St. Louis, Missouri.
Adoption Laws in South Carolina, South Carolina Council on Adoptable Children 23rd Annual Adoption Conference “Pathways to Permanency,” May 8, 2008, Charleston, South Carolina.
Representing Foreign Nationals in SC Family and Criminal Court: International and Domestic Adoptions Involving International Parties; South Carolina Bar; July 25, 2008, Columbia, South Carolina.
Emerging Issues in Adoption; Presenter, Spartanburg Regional Department of Education; September 26, 2008, Columbia, South Carolina
Creating Families Forever: The How to of the Adoption; Presenter/Panelist, The South Carolina Bar - Continuing Legal Education Division, October 9, 2008, Columbia, South Carolina.
TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS/ADOPTION RELATED PUBLISHED APPELLATE CASES
Adoptive Parents v. Biological Parents, 315 S.C. 535, 446 S.E.2d 404 (1994); Amicus Curiae Brief to the South Carolina Supreme Court on behalf of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. This case involved interstate adoption issues and the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children.
Doe v. Clark, 318 S.C. 274, 457 S.E.2d 336 (1995); Case involved proper procedure for execution of a consent/relinquishment for adoption.
Doe v. Brown, 331 S.C. 491, 489 S.E.2d 917 (1997); Case involved underage birth mother and birth father. Was precursor to amendment of South Carolina Code Section 20-7-1572 (11). Was first birth father case following the Abernathy decision.
Alley v. Boyd, 337 S.C. 60, 522 S.E.2d 146 (1999); Case examined the abandonment section of the Termination of Parental Rights Statute.
Brown v. Malloy, 345 S.C. 113, 546 S.E.2d 195 (2001); Case examined “John Doe” birth father constitutional rights.
Doe v. Queen, 347 S.C. 4, 552 S.E.2d 761 (2001); Court found that the birth father had no knowledge of the pregnancy; Therefore was forgiven for lack of pre-placement support.
Arscott v. Bacon, 351 S.C. 44, 567 S.E.2d 898 (2002); This case established the law that birth father’s have an “affirmative duty” to learn of a pregnancy and to be “proactive in protecting their rights.” This decision also observed that “pre-placement conduct” of a birth father determines whether his consent is required.
Doe v. Ward Law Firm, PA., 353 S.C. 509, 579 S.E.2d 303 (2003); This case established the Family Court’s jurisdiction to appoint a confidential intermediator to obtain birth history on an adoptee.
Doe v. Roe, 369 S.C. 351, 631 S.E.2d 317 (2006); This case established that a birth father’s contributions to birth mother cannot be “insubstantial and inconsistent.”
McCann v. Jane and John Doe, 377 S.C. 373, 660 S.E.2d 500 (2008), Case described legal standard by which coercion/duress would be analyzed - - Court moved from “improper external pressure” to “totality of the circumstances.”
Michael Scott v. Melissa M., 378 S.C. 452, 663 S.E.2d 58 (2008), Case affirmed the Family Court’s termination of birth mother’s parental rights and established Court’s Jurisdiction to award attorney fees in the termination of parental rights case.