James E. Lockemy

Professional career

• Since 2024, Lockemy has been Of Counsel at Richardson Plowden’s Myrtle Beach Office
• Judge, Court of Appeals of South Carolina, 1989-present
• First elected to the court on May 21, 2008, to fill the unexpired term of retired Judge Ralph King Anderson Jr
• Retired Honorable Chief Judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals and a seasoned legal professional now practicing in alternative dispute resolution and appellate law
• Served 18 years as a South Carolina Circuit Court Judge, presiding over a wide range of complex cases
• He then held a seven-year tenure as Chief Judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals, becoming the first Native American to occupy that role
• He has held the role of an adjunct professor of American Legal History at the University of South Carolina School of Law

Education

Additional information

• focusing on mediation, arbitration, and appellate law
• Lockemy has over 43 years of military service, including an active-duty tour in Kosovo and 26 years in the South Carolina National Guard.
• Retired from the U.S. Army as a full Colonel and later as a Major General in the South Carolina Military Department
• Before his judicial appointments, he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives for seven years
• focusing on health care and legislative policy
• He also worked in Washington, D.C. as a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond and as Sub‐Committee Minority Counsel for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
• In Dillon, SC, he is active in local governance, veterans’ affairs, and cultural projects, and has held leadership roles in the National Guard Association of South Carolina and the South Carolina Circuit Court Judges’ Association