From humble beginnings to South Carolina’s top attorney, Adair Ford Boroughs has overcome obstacles

On July 26, 2022, Williston, S.C., native Adair Ford Boroughs was sworn in as U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina after being nominated by President Joe Biden. Photo/Provided

COMING FULL CIRCLE

From humble beginnings, Adair Ford Boroughs has risen to occupy the top attorney spot in South Carolina

B y h aviland s tewart • hstewart @ nclawyersweekly . com

Growing up in a double wide trailer in the small town of Williston, S.C., Adair Ford Boroughs could be freJune 3, 2022. “It is the most exciting thing for me to be back at the Department [of Justice],” Boroughs said. “It is where I experienced the effect of not having academic and professional opportunities available to her firsthand. Now as U.S. Attorney Boroughs has the quently seen with her nose in a book or proudly toting her clarinet as she paraded in her small-school marching band. She could have never imagined all that her future would hold.

On July 26, 2022, Boroughs was sworn in as U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina after being nominated by President Joe Biden on started my legal career, it’s where I learned the practice of law, and where I learned what it meant to do justice in the name of the United States.” Justice to Boroughs means increasing diversity and inclusion efforts. Based on her experiences growing up in a low-income family, Boroughs has ability to effect change that will benefit those born into similar situations. “We need diversity in leadership because of those blind spots,” Boroughs said. “Everybody has them – I have them – and having diversity in all kinds of ways, not just the tradi-

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tional ways you think of, but in particular substantive backgrounds for instance. It gives you different perspectives to bring to the table.”

After high school, Boroughs attended college at Furman University, graduating in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, with the plan of teaching and inspiring young people as a high school math teacher. It wasn’t until experiencing the struggles that teachers face and desiring to reform the education system that Borough became interested in Law.

“When I was a young teacher, I had lots of thoughts and opinions about the way our system works and about how teachers didn’t have the resources and the things they needed to really help their children succeed in the classroom,” Boroughs said. “So, I spent some time lobbying my school board members, I spent some time lobbying members of the state legislature, and I felt that the people in those positions at that time were extremely dismissive of me and dismissive of teachers in the classroom in general and I found that very frustrating.”

After searching for ways to make an impact on her state and country, Boroughs decided she needed to get a law degree.

“People tend to follow their parents and community and who they’re exposed to, and I didn’t know a lawyer until after I was in college,” Boroughs said. “It was one of the reasons being a lawyer never occurred to me; they were just this foreign thing.”

Boroughs received her J.D. from Stanford Law School in 2007 and began her career at the Department of Justice as a part of the Attorney General’s Honors Program shortly after.

From 2013 to 2017 Boroughs clerked for Judge Richard Gergel, she was involved in several high-profile cases, including United States v. Dylan Roof. After that, she served as the executive director of Charleston Legal Access, a non-profit organization aimed at addressing and solving the justice gap in South Carolina until 2019. Between running Charleston Legal Access and beginning her time as a U.S. Attorney, Boroughs was a partner at Boroughs Bryant LLC.

Boroughs began her political career in 2020, when she ran for office to represent South Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District. She lost to

Republican Joe Wilson by 13 percentage points.

Being a woman toiling in the world of law and politics, it hasn’t always been easy for Boroughs.

“Women tend to second guess themselves a lot more [than men],” Boroughs said. “I am only the second woman to hold this role, in the office that’s not an issue at all, but it is in the area of law enforcement. There are also still big gender gaps in leadership and law enforcement that they are working toward. But it’s something where I am finding myself being the only woman in a room a lot more frequently than I did in other sectors or in other work.”

Because of Boroughs’ background, she has a specific desire to increase diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in her new role.

One of the ways that Boroughs has already taken action, is by making the Summer Law Clerk Program at the U.S. Attorney’s Office paid.

“We’ve always had unpaid summer law school students, and that’s a big problem for diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Boroughs said. “Because frankly, I was the kid that had bills to pay and couldn’t take an unpaid internship, and it’s not fair. And we are the Department of Justice, we should be seeking justice and all that we do internally as well as externally.”

For summer 2023 South Carolina will be one of only two U.S. Attorney’s

Offices in the entire country that will be doing paid internships for law students.

This is just one way that Boroughs has already made an impact as a U.S. Attorney, and she has many more goals in mind to implement during her time in this role.

“Starting my career [at the department of justice] influenced my whole view of the profession, and what we should do as lawyers, and our job and obligation to seek justice and what we do,” Boroughs said. “I am very happy to be back at the Department of Justice. It’s kind of a dream to be back here in leadership, frankly. And so, I’m really, really excited about it and the opportunity to be back at Justice and serving my home state is like the combination dream job for me.”

As for what’s next for Boroughs, she isn’t sure. Through whatever opportu-

“We need diversity in leadership because of those blind spots. Everybody has them – I have them – and having diversity in all kinds of ways, not just the traditional ways you think of, but in particular substantive backgrounds for instance. It gives you different perspectives to bring to the table.” - Adair Ford Boroughs

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nity comes next, Boroughs hopes to continue to implement change and be a voice for marginalized communities.

“I have never planned my career, or had a five or ten-year plan,” Boroughs said. “My philosophy has always been, ‘I’m gonna do the job I’m doing right now extremely well, I’m gonna knock it out of the park, I’m gonna give it my all, and if I do that, opportunities will be there for the next thing.’ I have really chosen the jobs I have at the times I have because they are addressing problems in society that I want to fix. I want to get in and help make things better.”

For more from Adair Boroughs, see the Q&A below:

Q: You helped found Charleston Legal Access in 2016. What impact did that experience have on you personally, and professionally?

A: I learned how to be the head of an organization, which is something that is serving me really well now. I learned the fundamentals of an organization because you’re building it from the ground up. I really learned about me personally that part of my advantage and gift for the world is that I’m willing to take risks to solve some of our problems. Sometimes the reason we aren’t solving these problems is because people are scared to take the risk.

Q: What lessons did you take away while clerking for Judge Gergel during the Dylan Roof case?

A: I one of the really important lessons I learned is the importance that the justice system plays for the community, both in an ability to have closure and to heal from an event, the justice system is just a crucial player in that. I also learned when these really horrific events happen, humans have an unbelievable ability to really come together and start facing it. We saw it in our law enforcement, we saw it in the church in – in Mother Emanuel, we saw it and the U.S. Attorney’s office we saw it in the court system. Everyone stepped up in that moment, and in a way that makes me proud to be a part of our society and in our justice system. But our justice system is just so crucial in these instances, to really provide closure and healing or be a part of the process of closure and healing for a community.

Q: You have been recognized in the past for your mentorship of new attorneys. Who are a few of your greatest mentors, and what are the most important lesson you have learned?

A: Mentors are crucial, and I have had a number of them. I have had them in each job, and I think that it’s really important for young people to find their mentors in different places. My chief at the Department of Justice, his name is Rick Ward, I say he will always be my chief. And now that I’m U.S. attorney he is still my chief in ways. He was an incredible mentor for me, not only teaching me the practice of law while I was at that department, but he also put time into me and training me to be a leader. He saw that potential and he and made sure I had formal and informal training in it.

Judge Richard Gergel, who I spent over three and a half years with taught me so much about doing justice and about the practice of law in South Carolina, and about dreaming big in my career. Those two are probably the two, but I have I have lots of them. So, I hate to narrow it too much. But yeah, both of them have been incredibly influential in my life.

Q: You have run for office a couple of times. Any plans to get back into politics once your time as U.S. Attorney is over?

A: Not presently, no. I have never planned my career, or had a five or ten-year plan. My philosophy has always been I’m gonna do the job I’m doing right now extremely well, I’m gonna knock it out of the park and I’m gonna give it my all. And if I do that, opportunities will be there for the next thing. And I have really chosen the jobs I have chosen at the times I have because they are addressing problems in society that I want to fix. I want to get in and help make things better. And so, there are a lot of things I could do that I would be happy doing that I have no idea what that is.

Q: Outside of work how do you enjoy spending your time?

A: I have two daughters, they’re 10 and 7, and I love spending time with them. We do a lot of puzzles, I love puzzles. I did them with my grandmother until she passed, and my daughters and I do that. My husband and I have always played a lot of video games. I just own up to it. We do it. And so that’s fun. But really, I love my work, so I spend a lot of time doing work and the time that I don’t spend here I really spend with my family.

Q: What is your favorite book?

A: Just for fun, my favorite series is probably the “Outlander” series by Diana Gabaldon. I love that it doesn’t fit into a genre, like it’s part historical fiction part romance, a little bit their fantasy aspects, but she’s an incredible writer and it’s this genre that kind of doesn’t fit in into any category that I also love.

Q: What movie or TV show best depicts what it is like to work in law?

A: I don’t think they have one that does.

Q: What is your go-to spot for a power lunch?

A: Crave Market is one of my favorite places to go to lunch. They have this green goddess salad that is amazing.

5QUESTIONS WITH... Doug Kim

Doug Kim is an intellectual patent attorney and founder of Kim Lahey & Killough Law Firm based in Greenville, and also chairs the Innovation and Intellectual Property Committee for the South Carolina Bar Association.

In the below Q&A Kim talks about the ever-evolving world of intellectual property.

1Q: How have non-fungi-

ble tokens (NFTs) and digital assets affected intellectual property law?

A: The full impact has yet to be seen but what NFTs have done is create a new property right that overlaps with existing intellectual property laws. For example, if a photographer takes a photo, that photo is protected with the traditional copyright laws. If that photographer sells the photo to a buyer, normally the buyer has the photo but not necessarily the right to prepare a derivative work. A derivative work is something that is derived from an original work, such as a movie from a book, a print from a painting, etc. When that buyer makes an NFT about the photo, the NFT could include a “copy” of the photo which may not be allowed under copyright. That same buyer has also created a new property right, the NFT, that could have independent value apart from the photograph. As you can see, this complicates ownership rights as well as intellectual property rights.

To be clear, the NFT and copyright are intertwined so that the NFT likely does not enjoy copyrights independently of the underlying work. One example of the confusion this can cause is the litigation between Quentin Tarantino and Miramax concerning the rights to Pulp Fiction NFTs. In this dispute, Tarantino’s position was that the NFTs were linked with media from the screenplay, which rights Tarantino retained. Miramax however, sued on the theory that the NFTs constituted a new and emerging technology that it could commercialize without payment to Tarantino. This case eventually settled.

Further, intellectual property rights are generally exclusionary rights in that they give the intellectual property right holder the right to exclude others from doing something.

Intellectual property rights could be used to prevent others from making NFTs, under certain circumstances. An NFT could also increase the value of an original work in that the work can be verified to be original and therefore more valuable.

One current impact on NFT value is the situation with FTX. This situation has created a “cybercurrency winter” which has engulfed the value of NFT, causing them to drop. For example, the value of “The Currency,” a collection of NFTs by artist Damien Hirst, fell 12.6% on November 16th while Moonbird NFTs fell 4.7% and Bored Ape Kennel Club fell 8.3%, according to NFT Price Floor. The full effect of the FTX situation is not over.

2Q: How do you see artifi-

cial intelligence (AI) patents evolving in the future?

A: Having experience with this, in that I have assisted with a granted patent for one South Carolina University that I believe to be its first AI patent, I think the application of AI will be where the patentability lies. AI as an engine will likely not enjoy much IP protection. However, the learning process, the application of the AI, and the results produced will be where the activity lies. As we know, AI requires a learning phase and this phase and process is where IP rights will likely be used most. While patent protection on the AI engine and its process can be challenging, the process in which we teach these AIs to learn is where increased protection and value lies. After all, bad learning produces bad results. One only needs to look at paint colors an AI engine produces to see how improper learning can lead to undesirable results. Some color names that were created include: “Clardic Fug,” “Ronching Blue,” Stargoon,” and “Dorkwood.” Obviously, this implementation of AI needs some work. 3 Q: What kind of impact

did the COVID-19 pandemic have on new patents and entrepreneurs seeking intellectual property services?

A: The impact of COVID has been profound. Generally, I believe that whatever trajectory you were on pre-COVID was accelerated by COVID. If your business was doing well, it improved during COVID and if your business was trending down, that accelerated. There are exceptions for businesses that were severely disrupted, such as the restaurant business.

As for entrepreneurs, COVID created a wave of geographic untethering so that the physical location was no longer that important. Entrepreneurs, by their very nature, were faster to adapt and embrace the removal of physical presence and generally did well. Ideas flowed and intellectual property protection was sought. We have seen a dramatic increase in patent applications in the past several years that we believe is a result of the ability to connect and collaborate online, making the intellectual property process easier and faster.

As for subject matter, the improvements in IT and software have resulted in more computer patent applications than we have seen in the past. Also, IT security has been advancing at an increased pace and intellectual property in this area is increasing as well. Mostly, we have seen the intellectual property activity increase with the application of new technologies, rather than the technologies themselves. For example, companies using blockchain are filing for more patent applications directed to the use of blockchain, rather than patent applications directed at blockchain itself.

4Q: What is the best piece

of advice for an entrepreneur or startup with protecting their intellectual property as they launch their dream?

A: First, have an intellectual property plan that supports your business. This plan usually includes an intellectual property preservation plan that matches the business needs and is created considering the resources available. Working with an experienced intellectual property attorney that takes the time to understand your business and its goals can be very important to this process. The last thing you want is to miss a deadline because you were unaware the deadline even existed. For example, when an invention is sold, there is a 12-month window to file a patent application, otherwise, intellectual property rights will be lost.

5Q: Tell us about your

most memorable client experience, and what you learned from it.

A: Picking one is difficult, as the work we do results in many good stories. There was a client who was working with another attorney and was frustrated with the time the process was taking. The client felt that the attorney was going through the motions without really taking the time to understand the client’s business. We were asked to assist and, within a few weeks, filed the patent applications and formed the company. The company found some investors and was able to bring their product to market within a few months. Our client-centric approach and the efforts we made to shorten the “getting ready to get ready time” resulted in a commercial product the client says occurred much faster due, at least in part, to our legal services.

Recently a client was expanding in several markets, and we assisted in securing a trademark portfolio that assisted with the client expansion. The client went from being a local business to in more than 20 markets nationally in about two years.

While there are many of these stores, I personally still get excited when a patent, trademark, or copyright lawsuit win occurs, even after 25 years of practicing intellectual property.