Jay Thompson is an associate of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP who practices in Columbia in the areas of business and commercial litigation, product liability, and premises liability.  Mr. Thompson also devotes time in his legal practice to protection of religious liberties. 

Mr. Thompson is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and all courts in the State of South Carolina.  He is a member of the South Carolina Bar, where he is presently chairperson of the Professional Development Committee of the Young Lawyers Division. 

Mr. Thompson is an Allied Attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, an international legal alliance that works to support and protect religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and traditional family values.  He is also a member of the Christian Legal Society, the Defense Research Institute, and the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys Association.

Mr. Thompson is a contributing author to the Product Liability Desk Reference: A Fifty-State Compendium.  He is also the author of “South Carolina or South Central? Proposing Comprehensive Criminal Gang Prevention Legislation for the Palmetto State,” 56 S.C.L.Rev. 735 (2005). 

Mr. Thompson is an active member of First Presbyterian Church, where he teaches Sunday School and participates as part of the Ushers Guild. 

Mr. Thompson earned a Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2006.  While in law school, he was the recipient of the Victor A. Michalewitz Award for Excellence in Legal Writing and the G.G. Dowling Student Award for exemplifying the qualities and integrity, concern for others and demonstration of scholarship achievement.  Mr. Thompson was a member of the South Carolina Law Review, served as Vice Chairperson of the Honor Council, and was a student member of the John Belton O’Neall Inn of Court. 

Prior to attending law school, Mr. Thompson was a systems analyst for Michelin Tire Corporation.  In 2001, Mr. Thompson earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Furman University in Computer Science and Computer Science/Mathematics.