
Meet the U.S. Attorney
Adair Ford Boroughs was officially sworn in as United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina in July of 2022, following nomination by President Biden and confirmation by the U.S. Senate. U.S. Attorney Boroughs is the chief federal law enforcement officer responsible for federal criminal prosecutions and civil litigation involving the United States in the District of South Carolina. She supervises an office of approximately 68 Assistant United States Attorneys, 73 support staff, and 13 contract support staff. The office prosecutes federal crimes affecting the district, including narcotics and firearms cases, gang violence, human trafficking, white-collar crime, securities fraud, public corruption, terrorism, and civil rights violations. The office also defends the United States in civil cases, affirmatively enforces federal environmental laws and federal civil rights statutes in civil actions, and recovers taxpayer dollars under the False Claims Act and the Controlled Substance Act.
Prior to her confirmation as U.S. Attorney, Boroughs was a partner at Boroughs Bryant, LLC where she handled complex litigation. She previously served as Executive Director of Charleston Legal Access, a nonprofit, sliding-scale law firm that she helped found to address the justice gap in South Carolina. Boroughs clerked for U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel, where she worked on a number of high-profile cases including United States v. Dylan Roof, where the defendant was convicted of killing nine Black parishioners during a prayer meeting at the historic Charleston Emanuel AME church. Boroughs began her legal career in the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. as part of the Attorney General’s Honors Program. While there, she handled complex civil ligation across the country, received awards for her trial work and mentorship of new attorneys, and served on the Assistant Attorney General’s Diversity Committee where she led the work on overhauling the Division’s hiring practices. Prior to law school, Boroughs taught high school mathematics in South Carolina’s public schools.
Boroughs received her J.D., with distinction, from Stanford Law School and her B.S. in Mathematics, summa cum laude, from Furman University in 2002. She is a 2001 Harry S. Truman Scholar.