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Faith Rivers James

A Lowcountry Native, Building at the Confluence

Faith Rivers James, Esq.

A graduate of Porter-Gaud, Dartmouth College, and Harvard Law School, Faith Rivers James began her legal career in Washington, D.C., where within four years she was negotiating the federal budget as senior counsel to the House Majority Leader on Capitol Hill. She then returned to the Lowcountry, bringing more than three decades of experience as a property law scholar, land use expert, nonprofit executive, and community advocate to issues regarding land protection and preservation.

Faith’s advocacy for family land preservation began early: as Executive Director of the South Carolina Bar Foundation, she launched the Heirs’ Property Preservation Project (later known as the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation) to help Lowcountry families protect generational land from forced partition sales.

That grounding in the field shaped her scholarship: as a law professor at Vermont Law School and Elon University School of Law, Faith became a noted expert on heirs’ property law and policy, publishing work that examines how traditional equity doctrines and forced partition sales have stripped Black families of generational land and wealth.

Her scholarship has been cited in hundreds of articles, law journals, and case textbooks.

“A lifelong advocate for preserving family land and the cultural heritage of the Lowcountry.”

A lawyer by training and a change agent at heart, Faith carried that same combination of grounded advocacy and scholarly rigor into leadership: building integrated ethical leadership, civics education, and professional development programs at Elon Law and The Citadel. Elon’s Law & Leadership Program earned Faith the Smythe Gambrell Award for Professionalism from the American Bar Association, and at The Citadel, she developed a required civics leadership course for cadets that drew national media attention.

Faith then brought that same leadership to conservation, serving as Executive Director of the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League and leading the organization’s efforts to protect the Lowcountry’s natural resources and advance equitable land use through policy, advocacy, and community engagement. In 2026, she was named to Charleston Business Magazine’s 50 Most Influential People list and inducted into its Hall of Fame, recognizing her sustained impact on the region.

Faith continues her efforts today through Rivers James Consulting, where that full arc comes together: ethical leadership, applied to the specific, practical challenges facing nonprofits, conservation organizations, and communities across law, land, and legacy.

Whether you’ve been here for generations or just arrived, the divides that separate us (old and new, insider and outsider) are bridgeable; finding common ground where different currents meet is the work of ethical leadership.

Credentials

Selected Accomplishments, South Carolina Coastal Conservation League

Through advocacy, policy development, and legal actions, Faith James led CCL’s successful legal and advocacy efforts to:

  • Defend the Cultural Protection Overlay on St. Helena Island
  • Collaborate with community partners to protect Union Pier
  • Defeat the 2024 Referendum on the Mark Clark Extension, which would have displaced families and small businesses, destroyed 34 acres of wetlands, and inundated John’s Island with new traffic and development
  • Secure landmark protections for the Red Knot and horseshoe crab populations
  • Support the expansion of the Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve
  • Secure a $1.2 million New Market Tax Credit anchoring GrowFood’s new Charleston Neck warehouse, supporting farmers and helping them preserve the rural landscape.
Faith Rivers James speaking at a podium during a public planning commission meeting

In the Media

Faith has appeared on national media, including Fox & Friends, discussing leadership and conservation issues.

Contact

Email is the fastest way to reach her.

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