Faith Rivers James, professor of law and director of leadership programs
(336) 279-9332, frivers@elon.edu
Faith Rivers James teaches Legislation, Nonprofit Organizations, Property, and Public Law & Leadership, a course she created at Elon Law. Previously, Rivers James taught at Vermont Law School, where she was a member of the Environmental faculty and fellow of the Land Use Institute. She began her law teaching career as a Visiting Assistant Professor at University of South Carolina School of Law in 2005 and taught in the master’s in public administration program from 1999 to 2002.
Rivers James began practicing as a legislative attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Akin Gump Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP. She entered public service to serve as Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor to the Majority Leader of the United States Congress, and later served as Executive Director of the South Carolina Bar Foundation. In that post, Rivers James authored the South Carolina Supreme Court rule that converted the state’s Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program into a comprehensive program that exponentially increased revenues that the Bar Foundation invests in law-related programs.
A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Rivers James has done extensive research on preservation of African American property ownership. She was instrumental in the creation of the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation in Charleston, for which the South Carolina Bar Foundation received the National Conference of Bar Foundations Award for Excellence in Programming in 2004. Rivers James served on the American Bar Association’s Property Preservation Task Force from 2006-2007. Most recently, she co-authored a chapter about the saga of heirs’ property in the Carolina Lowcountry in Breakthrough Communities: Sustainability and Justice in the Next American Metropolis, from MIT Press.
Rivers James received a bachelor’s degree in government and sociology from Dartmouth College (1987) and a Juris Doctorate from the Harvard Law School (1990). She is a member of the South Carolina Bar, the District of Columbia Bar, and the North Carolina Bar Association, where she serves on the Citizen Lawyer Committee and the Real Property Section’s Legislative Committee.
Recent news:
Faith Rivers James publishes “Leadership and Social Justice Lawyering”
Elon Law professor and alumnus author article about engaging nonprofits in legal education
Faith Rivers James and Margaret Kantlehner present at national conference on externships
Faith Rivers James participates in Association of Leadership Educators conference
Faith Rivers James participates in education leadership roundtable at Santa Clara Law
Faith Rivers James delivers keynote address at SC Master-in-Equity Judge’s Association Annual Meeting
Faith Rivers James publishes book chapter on African American property ownership
Faith Rivers James presents research on Heirs’ Property at S.C. Black Lawyers Association Conference
Faith Rivers James publishes article on diversity in environmental nonprofits
Law students assist local nonprofits in winter course
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