Carmen H. Thomas is an associate of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP who practices in Columbia in business litigation.

 

Ms. Thomas is a former planning manager for the S.C. Department of Commerce, where she developed annual plans for federal funding used for statewide economic development, infrastructure, community facilities, and housing development and rehabilitation projects.  She also has worked as a state planner for the S.C. State Budget and Control Board Division of Legal Services & Grants, where she coordinated the annual Strategic Energy Action Plan and researched and implemented energy use and renewable energy policies for South Carolina. 

 

She is a former law clerk for the S.C. Senate Judiciary Committee and was a legislative aide and page in the S.C. House of Representatives.

 

She earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, in 2007 from the University of South Carolina School of Law, where she served as editor in chief of the South Carolina Law Review. She received CALI Excellence for the Future Awards in Securities Regulation and Media Law and was named to the Order of the Wig and Robe. She also was a member of the Pro Bono Board, a student member of the John Belton O'Neall Inn of Court, and a member of Phi Delta Phi, Calhoun Inn.

Ms. Thomas serves as Vice-Chair of the Commercial Litigation Committee of the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys Association and as a member of the Richland County Bar Association's Public Service Committee. She also participates as a member of the South Carolina Women Lawyers' Association.

 

Ms. Thomas co-authored two articles about South Carolina’s Business Court Pilot Program, South Carolina's Business Court Pilot Program, S.C. Lawyer 30 (May 2008), and Getting Down to Business: The Successes of the SC Business Court Pilot Program, S.C. Lawyer 12 (Jan. 2010).  The second article was based on her work on a committee appointed by Chief Justice Jean Toal to evaluate South Carolina’s Business Courts.  She authored the note, "LLCs are Off and Running: Historic Charleston Holdings, LLC v. Mallon, Accountings and Derivative Actions in LLC Litigation," 57 S.C. L. Rev. 441 (2006).

 

She earned a Master of Public Administration from the University of South Carolina. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communications, cum laude, from the University of South Carolina Honors College.