ACADEMIC PROGRAMS

William S. Thompson serves as Dean of Students at the Appalachian School of Law, where he also holds the position of Visiting Professor. His legal career spans over 30 years. He began his career at Cook and Cook in Madison, West Virginia, where his practice consisted of civil litigation, criminal defense, and appellate work. He also represented small businesses and practiced real estate law. In 2007, then-Governor Joe Manchin appointed him to the circuit court bench, a position for which he was re-elected on multiple occasions. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. nominated him to serve as the United States Attorney on August 10, 2021, and confirmed by the United States Senate on October 5, 2021, where he served until February 2025. In addition to his role with the school, Thompson also serves as Counsel to the law firm Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC, based in their Charleston, West Virginia office, with a practice that focuses on Alternative Dispute Resolution, White Collar Crime, and General Litigation.

As United States Attorney, Thompson was the top-ranking law enforcement official in the Southern District of West Virginia. Thompson oversaw personnel located in offices in Charleston, Huntington, and Beckley. The office was responsible for prosecuting federal crimes in the district, including crimes related to terrorism, public corruption, child exploitation, firearms, and narcotics. The office also defended the United States in civil cases and collected debts owed to the United States. Notable cases during tenure included the prosecution and conviction of eight jail guards who killed an inmate at the Southern Regional Jail, multiple law enforcement officers for sex trafficking and sexual exploitation crimes against children, a conviction against a local police officer for excessive force, the largest methamphetamine seizure in West Virginia history, notable drug cases that disrupted fentanyl supply chains directly from China and Mexico, a guilty verdict against a Logan County physician for drug crimes, and the prosecution of 18 individuals in a gun trafficking scheme that saw over 140 firearms from southern West Virginia to Philadelphia.

Under his leadership, the Southern District of West Virginia became a national leader in bankruptcy fraud cases. His office also prosecuted several high-profile white-collar cases, including environmental cases, internet-based fraud schemes, COVID-19 benefits fraud, and wire fraud and money laundering cases. He also initiated several prosecutions involving a multi-million dollar theft from the Boone County School system.

He also took an active role in the civil side of his office, which resulted in the recovery of millions of dollars of federal funds. Additionally, he sponsored several community forums to raise public awareness about issues such as civil rights, elder fraud, domestic violence, antisemitism, and the addiction crisis.

During his tenure as judge, Thompson gained a national reputation for presiding over several treatment courts, including the state’s first family treatment court. Several notable cases that Judge Thompson presided over included the first action against opioid distributors in the country and the civil litigation related to the Upper Big Branch disaster. He presided over 15,000 cases, including complex civil litigation, intellectual property, employment law, corporate matters, punitive damages, debt collection, product liability, personal injury, administrative law, serious felonies, property, estate administration, family law, and juvenile matters. He served by assignment on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and oversaw many settlement conferences while on the bench.

Thompson’s career has been the focus of national, state, and local media. His work has been featured on the NBC Nightly News, HBO Vice, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. He was featured in a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles by Eric Eyre of the Charleston Gazette. He was an Advisory Member of the West Virginia Criminal Justice Reform Initiative Stakeholder Group for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The White House recognized him in 2018 and 2020 for his work with drug courts, he received the 2019 West Virginia Public Defender Services Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Criminal Law, and he received an award from the Addiction Policy Forum in 2019, was named a West Virginia Bar Foundation Fellow in 2022 and received a Civil Rights Award from Governor Justice in 2023.

Thompson also previously served as President of Madison Healthcare, Inc., and as Vice President and General Counsel of Danville Lumber Company. Thompson was raised in Boone County, West Virginia. He earned a degree in civil engineering from West Virginia University, where he received a Presidential Scholarship, and a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law, where he received the Marlyn E. Lugar Scholarship and was the Chairman of the Judicial Board.