After school, he worked part-time running errands at his half brother's (James Franklin Thompson's) newspaper, the Humboldt Standard.

[2] Thompson studied at the University of California, Berkeley, where he paid his own school fees and finished a six-year law curriculum in four years, receiving both an A.B.

In 1920, Thompson ran unsuccessfully on the Republican ticket for the position of judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

[11] In October 1926, Governor Friend Richardson elevated Thompson to the position of Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Second District.

[13] On December 8, 1932, Governor James Rolph Jr. appointed Thompson to the California Supreme Court to fill the vacant seat due to the death of John E.