Event Information

 Carmen Harper Thomas is a litigator whose experience includes resolving disputes and regulatory issues for financial services companies, professionals and their firms, and companies with innovative technology or business models.
Ms. Thomas received her JD, cum laude, 2007, from the University of South Carolina School of Law; MPA, 2002, from the University of South Carolina School; BA, 1999, from the University of South Carolina School Honors College.
Ms. Thomas admissions include South Carolina, Supreme Court of United States, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of S.C., U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. District Court, District of S.C.

Professional Activities
-  American Bar Association (Business Law Section, Consumer Financial Services
Committee)
-  Federal and State Trade Practices Subcommittee, Co-Vice Chair (2019-present)
-  Task Force on Small Dollar Lending, Young Lawyer Liaison (2014-2015), Commission on the Future of Legal Services (2015),         Business Law Section
-  Subcommittee on Business Courts, Vice Chair (2012-2014)
-  South Carolina Bar, Consumer Law Section Council, Chair (2020-2021), Chair- Elect (2019-2020), Council (2012-present), Ethics  Advisory Committee (2019- present), House of Delegates (2015-2016)
-  John Belton O'Neall Inn of Court, President (2016-2017), Executive Committee
(2014-2018)
-  Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference, Permanent Member
-  American Bar Foundation, Fellow
-  Defense Research Institute
-  SC Defense Trial Attorneys Association
-  South Carolina Women Lawyers Association
-  Richland County Bar Association, Public Service Committee (2008-2014)

Derek is a former federal prosecutor and an experienced litigator who represents clients – both large and small – before numerous state and federal courts. A proven problem solver who focuses on complex criminal and civil issues, Derek personally handles each client’s case with deliberate intensity and attention to detail. Although he is based in the Midlands, Derek has handled cases throughout the country and across South Carolina, including Richland, Florence, and Kershaw Counties.

Derek most recently served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of South Carolina, where he ran one of the U.S. Attorney’s four offices in the state. He began by handling violent crime and narcotics cases, including cases involving drug gangs, firearms, bank robbery, and the most recent federal death penalty case in the United States. He ultimately became a white-collar prosecutor, where he handled complex criminal matters including wire fraud, healthcare fraud, bank fraud, tax fraud, and public corruption. Derek’s successes include serving as lead counsel for the largest criminal tax operation in the history of South Carolina’s Pee Dee Region; serving as counsel in one of the largest healthcare fraud cases in the country; and serving as the state’s Coronavirus Fraud Coordinator where he was responsible for handling many of the first criminal cases in South Carolina involving pandemic-related fraud and where he oversaw cases related to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), and other Coronavirus-related programs.

Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Derek worked at the largest law firm in South Carolina and was a partner at a small law firm in Columbia, South Carolina. In those capacities, he spent years representing corporate and individual clients before state and federal courts in all manner of civil and criminal proceedings. This experience included successfully representing clients in False Claims Act cases (also known as qui tam actions or whistleblower actions), serving as counsel on class action matters, handling appellate matters at the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, and serving as special counsel to the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office to represent the interests of the State against entities committing civil wrongdoing.

Derek has authored several legal articles in various publications, taught numerous Continuing Legal Education Courses to lawyers across the state, and clerked for two federal judges in the District of South Carolina. Derek also taught Civil Litigation in the University of South Carolina’s paralegal certification program and serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of South Carolina’s School of Law. He has taught Legal Writing and currently teaches Technology and Criminal Law.

In addition to his litigation experience, Derek was recently elected to Kershaw County Council and serves on the Council’s Finance Committee. Before becoming a lawyer, Derek worked as an editor for The Item, a newspaper in Sumter, South Carolina, worked as a defense contractor for the General Dynamics Corporation, and served in the U.S. Marine Corps until his honorable discharge as a Sergeant. When not at work or teaching, Derek enjoys spending time with his wife – who teaches elementary school – and their two children.

Admissions

• South Carolina
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• United States District Court, South Carolina

Education

• University of South Carolina School of Law, Magna Cum Laude
• Old Dominion University, Cum Laude

Clerkships

• The Honorable R. Bryan Harwell, Chief Judge, U.S. District Court
• The Honorable G. Ross Anderson, Jr., U.S. District Court 

Education

• University of South Carolina School of Law, J.D., 1981
  Order of Wig and Robe
  
• College of Charleston, B.A., 1978
  Major:  Political Science

Matt is a litigator with the Firm’s Commercial, Appellate, Consumer, and Employment litigation team. He handles complex business disputes, defends employers in class and collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage payment laws, and also practices with the consumer financial services and tax lien litigation groups. Matt has argued before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va. as well as the South Carolina Supreme Court and Court of Appeals in Columbia, S.C.

Matt has also tried cases in the Federal District Courts for the District of South Carolina, the Eastern District of North Carolina, and the Middle District of North Carolina. As a part of his pro bono practice, Matt has experience with litigating international child abduction cases under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the International Child Abduction Remedies Act.

• Overview
• Experience
• Media
• Recognitions

Education

1. University of South Carolina School of Law, JD (2013)
   
   
• John Belton O'Neall Inn of Court
• Trial Advocacy Bar Member, National Trial Competition Team
• Robert M. Figg Award for Most Outstanding Trial Attorney  (2011, 2012)
• Reece Williams Award for Internal Trial Competition Champion (2011, 2012)
2. Wofford College, BA, Government and Spanish with concentrations in Latin American/Caribbean Studies and World Politics (2010) 

Admissions

1. North Carolina
2. South Carolina
3. U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
4. U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina
5. U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina
6. U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina
7. U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina
8. Supreme Court of the United States 

Judge Lydon graduated from Clemson University and received her law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law. After law school, she practiced with Nexsen, Pruet, Jacobs and Pollard. She left Nexsen Pruet in 1990 to join the United States Attorney's Office, where she prosecuted cases primarily in the areas of public corruption and white-collar crime. After leaving the United States Attorney's Office, Judge Lydon went into private practice with former U.S. Attorney E. Bart Daniel and Scott Schools.  In 2003, South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster asked Judge Lydon to be the Chief of the State Grand Jury, a division of the South Carolina Attorney General's Office modeled after the federal system and responsible for prosecuting complex cases throughout the state.
From 2005-2018, Judge Lydon was in private practice handling mostly white-collar criminal cases.
Judge Lydon was sworn in as the United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina on May 24, 2018. 
Judge Lydon was sworn in as a federal judge on December 12,2019.