Amanda L. Thompson, Esq.
Amanda Thompson handles employment law and other litigation matters and advises clients on employment issues such as sexual harassment, discrimination based on race, national origin, age, sex, and disability, as well as family/medical leave issues, wage and hour disputes, and severance negotiations. Prior to opening her law practice, Amanda obtained extensive litigation experience handling employment law matters as well as a variety of general liability cases including premises liability, products liability, construction defense and other personal injury matters. In addition to representing clients directly, Amanda also accepts project work for other attorneys, including legal research, pleadings and other law and motion, drafting discovery and handling depositions, and appearances such as case management conferences and motion hearings.
Amanda graduated from Macalester College with a B.A. in Psychology and received her J.D. from Thomas Jefferson School of Law where she graduated cum laude with Pro Bono honors and obtained a certificate in Law and Social Justice. She is admitted to practice in all State Courts of California as well as the District Court for the Southern District of California.
Amanda is honored to have been selected to Super Lawyers Rising Stars for 2017, an honor reserved for those lawyers who exhibit excellence in practice. Only 2.5% of attorneys in San Diego receive this distinction and selection is based on peer review as well as independent research. Amanda was named among the Best of the Bar 2015 by the San Diego Business Journal. She was nominated for San Diego Daily Transcript’s Top Attorneys 2014 and 2015 in the area of labor and employment law, and was previously nominated for the San Diego Daily Transcript’s “Outstanding 2013 Young Attorneys.” Amanda is an elected Director of the Alumni Association Board of Directors of Thomas Jefferson School of Law and was just elected to serve as a Vice President on its Executive Committee. Amanda previously served as Project Leader of the Community Outreach Committee of Lawyers Club of San Diego for the committee’s special projects. In addition, Amanda is a member of California Employment Lawyers Association (CELA), and volunteers at the Employee Rights Self Help Clinic at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and has been a member of Consumer Attorneys of San Diego (CASD). Amanda previously served as an elected Director on the New Lawyer Division Board of Directors of the San Diego County Bar Association, where she Co-Chaired the Community Service and Continuing Legal Education Committees.
Amanda has also been actively involved in the legal community on a national scale, as she was a Vice Chair and Newsletter Co-Editor of the Employment Law & Litigation Committee to the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) of the American Bar Association and was an active member of the TIPS Law in Public Service Committee and the Task Forces on Plaintiffs’ Involvement and Outreach to Young Lawyers.
What made Amanda choose discrimination as a practice area?
Ultimately, it comes down to this: Amanda doesn’t believe someone should be treated badly simply because of something as arbitrary as the color of their skin. In college, Amanda studied social psychology, and specifically focused on the psychology of prejudice and racism. She considered obtaining her doctorate in psychology, with plans to teach the psychology of prejudice and research how and why people develop thoughts and fears that constitute racism and sexism and then turn that into discriminatory treatment… but then, with the help of her mentor, Kendrick Brown, who was her social psychology professor at Macalester College, she realized she could do something a bit more proactive by giving a substantial voice with a means of remedy to those who have been subject to wrongful discrimination — Dr. Brown suggested that Amanda consider becoming a lawyer.
Amanda sought out to determine whether being a lawyer was something she really wanted to do, so she began her career in the legal field as an administrative assistant and then quickly became a paralegal at the Office of the Monitor which was created to enforce the consent decree of the largest class action for discrimination against African American farmers that had existed as of that time. Amanda sifted through hundreds – if not thousands – of claims on behalf of African American farmers who made claims of discrimination against the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. That experience touched Amanda deeply and confirmed her path to law school and ultimately helped her to become the lawyer she is today.
