Anna Catherine “AC” Parham is an attorney and legal scholar whose scholarly interests focus on environmental law, climate change, wildlife conservation, international environmental law, and emerging legal approaches to global environmental challenges. She is licensed to practice law in South Carolina, Florida, and the District of Columbia.
AC earned her undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from the University of South Carolina, her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of South Carolina School of Law, and her Master of Business Administration, with distinction, from The Citadel: The Military College of South Carolina. While at the University of South Carolina School of Law, she served as Associate Editor-in-Chief of the South Carolina Law Review and Chief Justice of the Moot Court Bar. She received the Roberts Senior Class Writing Award for her published South Carolina Law Review article entitled: Paradise Lost? A New Legal Theory to Combat Climate Change. The Roberts Senior Class Writing Award is the most prestigious writing award bestowed by the University of South Carolina.
AC began her legal career through judicial clerkships with the Honorable Bruce Howe Hendricks of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina and the Honorable John D. Geathers of the South Carolina Court of Appeals. Her scholarly writing explores questions at the intersection of environmental protection, climate change, conservation, and legal theory.
AC has received numerous academic, professional, and community honors, including recognition as a 2026 Super Lawyers Rising Star and as a 2026 Gamecock35 honoree by the University of South Carolina Young Alumni Council. She was also selected for the inaugural SC BIZ Leaders in Law Awards and was named to The State newspaper’s 20 Under 40 list in 2022. Her additional honors include the Order of the Silver Crescent and the Kentucky Colonel Award.
Outside of her legal and scholarly pursuits, AC is an avid traveler and marathon runner. Her particular passion for wildlife conservation has taken her to Antarctica, where she traveled with her father and developed a deeper interest in the legal and institutional frameworks governing Antarctic conservation.