Liberty Law alumna strives to better the lives of area youth and families as juvenile domestic relations judge

In July, Liberty University School of Law alumna Rachel Thompson (’12) transitioned from attorney to judge, appointed to the Roanoke County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court for the 23rd Judicial District of Virginia.

As an attorney, Thompson specialized in adoption and immigration cases. She is taking her passion to affect positive change for families into her new role.

“Juveniles are our future. The decisions that are made in their lives today affect our tomorrow,” Thompson said. “I am thankful I have been able to see success stories of juveniles who have had difficult beginnings. It has spurred me on to do the best job I can — before as an advocate and now as a judge.”

Her career journey started with an internship at Poarch Law in Salem, Va., during her 3L year at Liberty Law. After graduation, she became an associate attorney at the firm. In 2020, she was named partner, changing the name to Poarch Thompson Law, and in 2022, she became owner.

“I handled a variety of cases from arguing asylum cases, so people fleeing from persecution, to advocating for immigrant juveniles, kids who are abused, neglected, and abandoned by one or both parents. I also represented a lot of employers, bringing world-class talent to the U.S.,” Thompson said.

As a daughter of immigrants, Thompson was instilled with a passion to aid the next generation of immigrants.

In 2016, Thompson received the Alison Parker Young Professional Award, and in 2018, she received the Federal Bar Association Immigration Law Section Younger Lawyer of the Year award. This year, the Federal Bar Association Immigration Law Section recognized her as Lawyer of the Year.

Thompson taught adoption law as adjunct faculty at Liberty Law from 2019-23, noting that her own professors were one of the most influential aspects of her education.

“I can’t say enough good things about the professors. They’re tough when they need to be tough, but they’re also so kind and compassionate. I wouldn’t be here today without the professors at Liberty Law, and they’re also the reason why I wanted to go back and teach.”

Growing up in a Christian family, Thompson’s faith has remained important to her throughout her career. She said Liberty Law not only taught the importance of a Christian worldview in work and life but also how to exemplify good character.

“You can have a Christian worldview, but if you don’t have the character to sustain the words coming out of your mouth, then it means nothing. Mimicking the character of Christ is what is most important.”

Thompson said she loves Titus 1:16 because it emphasizes the importance of character: “We can claim we have a Christian worldview, but if our actions and character don’t align with that, then that’s a contradiction.”

She said Liberty Law professors teach from a biblical foundation while welcoming discourse about other worldviews to sharpen their students on the issues they may confront after graduation.

“I felt very free to be able to talk about what I wanted to talk about, but it was really encouraging that, at the end of the day, the Bible was the center,” Thompson said.

Outside of the courtroom, Thompson is a very active member of her community, and her faith has played a large role. In 2016, she helped create The Well (Roanoke), a ministry where churches of all different denominations can come together once a month and worship God as a unified whole. The Facebook group currently has over 2,000 members, and they meet once a month with an average of over 400 attendees. A friend of Thompson’s started The Well (Lynchburg) to have an even broader reach. Being a mother of four, Thompson also served on the school board for Salem City Schools before becoming a judge.

“To witness the diversity in the Roanoke Valley has been special,” Thompson said.

She attributes her success to hard work and learning from mistakes.

“When I first started working, I remember reading about people I admired in the legal field. I thought they were superhuman and that they always had the innate ability to be extraordinary. But what I have learned is that their superhumanity is a product of their daily grind,” she said. “Every trial, every win, every loss, every day was an opportunity to learn about themselves, about relationships, and about the world. What made them extraordinary was nothing extraordinary. Every day matters, and it’s a slow progression by making good choices that will allow you to be a good boss, mentor, and human.”