There is a new face in the Montgomery County legal community, but while attorney Michael Thompson may be new to the local legal scene he has a strong family roots in the Mt. Gilead, Pee Dee and Eldorado communities.
Thompson recently began what is termed an “of counsel” relationship with Garner & Williamson PA in Troy. “I’m not a partner or an associate, but it is a formal relationship that means I will have a consistent presence here,” Thompson explained.
Although he grew up in a rural area outside Raleigh, Thompson’s late father Curtis was a Montgomery County native, and Thompson spent many summers visiting his grandfather, Oliver Thompson, and his Uncle Ollie Thompson, who was chief game warden for what is now the Uwharrie National Forest, learning much about the wildlife and the natural resources of the area.
“I’ve always had a tremendous affinity for this area and spent a lot of time tromping through the woods of Montgomery County,” he says.
A year ago, Thompson consulted Sonya Williamson while purchasing property surrounding family land he owns here. When a difficult construction dispute arose a short time later, Williamson asked Thompson to collaborate on the case. “We worked well together and had good success for the client,” he says.
At the time, Thompson and his wife Jane, an assistant attorney general with the N.C. Department of Justice, were pondering a possible move from Winston-Salem to Sunset Beach where he was thinking about opening a part-time practice. After having second thoughts, he talked with Williamson about a formal relationship. “It was exquisite timing and it all felt like a good fit.”
He now has an office on the second floor of at Garner & Williamson and is normally here on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
A graduate of the UNC-Chapel Hill law school, Thompson has an extensive background in law and business. After practicing in Raleigh after law school, in 1981 he went to work in Winston-Salem as senior counsel for Wachovia. “It was a wonderful opportunity for a young man in his early 30s and a great place to learn,” he says of the position in which he supervised all litigation for Wachovia.
After leaving Wachovia, he became assistant dean of Wake Forest University’s school of business and a professor of business law, teaching classes and developing leadership and ethics courses.
Since leaving Wake Forest in 1997, he has worked in private law practice but spent most of his time doing leadership training, executive coaching and giving courses in group dynamics and other areas through his own consulting company.
“It was very rewarding, but there was too much travel, too much time away from home,” he says.
Thompson notes that small town law practices used to be very general, “but now it’s become necessary to specialize more to keep up.” His work here will focus mainly on disputes related to real estate, construction, debtor/creditor issues, bankruptcies and foreclosures.
His wife calls him a “Uniform Commercial Code geek,” he jokes, speaking about the broad ranging N.C. legal code that deals with hundreds of types of commercial transactions. “It’s like an enormous puzzle and I like putting that puzzle together,” he says. “There are a lot more disputes in those areas in a rural community than you would think.” Thompson is also a certified mediator for civil cases in superior court.
“No matter where I’ve lived or what I’ve done, this part of the world has been the one constant in my life and having a more regular relationship with a law firm here feels very comfortable,” he says.
