Sharon Thompson Named to Best Lawyers in America 2016

We are pleased to announce that Sharon Thompson has been named to the 2016 Best Lawyers in America Family Law section. The 2016 list represents Best Lawyers 22nd edition.

Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers® has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Best Lawyers lists are compiled based on an exhaustive peer-review evaluation. Over 79,000 leading attorneys globally are eligible to vote, and Best Lawyers has received more than 12 million votes to date on the legal abilities of other lawyers based on their specific practice areas around the world. For the 2016 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America©, 6.7 million votes were analyzed, which resulted in more than 55,000 leading lawyers being included in the new edition. Lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed; therefore inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”

In 2010, Sharon became the first attorney in North Carolina, as well as the first woman, to be accepted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Assisted Reproductive Technology Attorneys. She is included in the Women Leaders in the Law 2015, by Legal Leaders™, American Law Media and Fortune Magazine. In 2013, she received the North Carolina Bar Association’s Citizen Lawyer Award for her contributions to LGBT law across the nation, and in 2014 the North Carolina State Bar’s John B. McMillan Distinguished Service Award, for exemplary service to the legal profession. In 2007, she received the ACLU’s Frank Porter Graham Award and was inducted into the General Practice Hall of Fame by the NC Bar Association. She also received the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys’ Women of Wisdom Award in 2006, the Triangle Business and Professional Guild’s Professional of the Year Award in 2000, the North Carolina AFL-CIO Legislative Award in 1992, Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger Award in 1990, and what is now known as the Gwyneth B. Davis Award from the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys in 1987. She served in the the North Carolina House of Representatives (1987-1990), where she was the highest ranked female and the 16th Most Effective Representative during her second term. In 1978, Sharon was one of four co-founders of the NC Association of Women Attorneys, and in 1994, she was one of the co-founders, and the first President, of the NC Association of Gay and Lesbian Attorneys.

Sharon has also served as Adjunct Professor at both the University of North Carolina School of Law and the North Carolina Central University of Law and she has authored numerous publications and is often called upon to speak at legal seminars, law school, and community events.

Established in 2009, the family, business and criminal defense firm of NicholsonPham focuses on pursuing, ensuring and advocating for the rights of LGBT individuals and their families, and since have become the area’s preeminent LGBT focused law firm. Meredith Nicholson, Milan Pham and Sharon Thompson commonly provide resources and support to the legal community and are available for referrals in this narrow field of practice.