Roderick E. Thompson, Esq.

Community Relations Lead

    Roderick Thompson is a seasoned trial attorney and legal strategist with decades of experience spanning public defense, high-stakes litigation, entertainment and sports law, and nonprofit leadership. He currently serves clients nationally while maintaining an active presence in Washington State and Washington, D.C., where his practice is based.
     Born and raised in the South End of Seattle, with deep family roots in the Central District, Roderick’s connection to Washington State is both personal and enduring. He grew up within the community of the historic Mt. Zion Baptist Church, one of Seattle’s most enduring Black institutions, and attended O’Dea High School, where he now serves as a member of the Alumni Board. Together, these formative experiences shaped his sense of responsibility, discipline, and long-standing commitment to service. 
    Roderick is the only son of the late Myrtis Thompson, a respected public servant in Seattle’s Black community whose dedication to the Evergreen state included terms as Special Programs Director for the state Human Rights Commission and Assistant Commissioner at the Employment Security Department. Myrtis’ lifelong commitment to public service, civil rights, and institutional accountability played a formative role in shaping Roderick’s values, perspective, and sense of responsibility.
    Roderick remains a homeowner on Seattle’s South Beacon Hill, where the Thompsons have maintained a presence since the early 1960s.  He continues to spend significant time in the region while dividing his professional work between Washington State, Georgia and Washington, D.C. Although his legal career has taken him across the country, he has long sought opportunities to bring his experience and perspective back to his home state in a meaningful way.
    Roderick attended Howard University, where he earned his undergraduate degree and was shaped by the institution’s longstanding tradition of producing servant leaders committed to public service, justice, and excellence. His time at Howard further deepened his understanding of the historical and contemporary forces affecting Black communities nationwide, reinforcing a commitment to legal advocacy grounded in both rigor and purpose.
    He began his legal career as a public defender, zealously representing individuals facing the most serious criminal charges and navigating the most consequential moments of their lives. Mr. Thompson has observed a clear and persistent correlation between the legacy of slavery and the disproportionate treatment of Black communities within the criminal justice system. His courtroom experience has reinforced the understanding that contemporary disparities in policing, prosecution, and sentencing are not accidental, but rather the cumulative result of structural conditions rooted in the nation’s original sin of slavery and its aftermath.
    In joining the Charles Mitchell and George Washington Bush Study on Reparative Action, Mr. Thompson brings a practitioner’s perspective grounded in lived legal experience, informed by both his professional work and his lifelong ties to the communities most affected by these systems. The project resonated deeply with him as an opportunity to align his legal expertise with work that directly addresses historical truth, present-day inequity, and the pursuit of meaningful repair.