After 8 years, the governor’s lawyer Thomas Limehouse moves to private practice

It was only supposed to last six months.

But after an event-filled eight years, nine months and 17 days in Columbia as S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster’s top lawyer — a position known as chief legal counsel — Thomas Limehouse is halting his long-range commutes and going home and setting up his own law office in downtown Charleston.

“It was a fun run, I couldn’t have asked for a better client, boss and managing partner,” said Limehouse, 37, referring to McMaster in a recent interview at his first-floor suite of law offices on East Bay Street.

For his part, McMaster said in an interview that Limehouse “is one of the best lawyers I have ever known or known of .... In a meeting to make important decisions, he would always bring a level of comfort and understanding from numerous perspectives, political as well as legal.”

“He always had superior insight, far beyond, beyond, I thought someone of his, his age, but, of any age,” McMaster said.

Even lawyers opposing Limehouse’s legal positions speak well of him.

“I tried to hire him, he’s one of the best lawyers I’ve ever met,” said Columbia attorney Matthew Richardson, who is currently on the opposite side from Limehouse on litigation involving implementing changes to the state’s foster care system. Limehouse, acting in a private capacity, is still involved in several state legal issues he was instrumental in while working for the governor.

“I’ve been with him, I’ve been against him. I can tell you he’s not only a pleasure to work with, a very smart lawyer and a very savvy political adviser and counselor and somebody I would call with my own problems if I had to,” Richardson said.

A host of issues

During his years with the governor’s office, Limehouse led a legal team that crafted strategy on a host of complex, often volatile issues facing the state and nation.

The team defended legal cases brought against McMaster, the state’s top executive responsible for its laws, in state circuit court, the Court of Appeals and the S.C. Supreme Court. On the federal side, Limehouse and his lawyers appeared in person or by filing briefs in South Carolina federal district court, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Issues included abortion, the environment, hurricane responses, redistricting, covid vaccinations, last-minute death row lawsuits and pleas for clemency, shield laws to protect the identity of companies providing lethal drugs used in executions, voter rights and school choice, or whether to use taxpayer money for private schools.

He and his staff were also in often close contact with state agency heads, local and federal officials, and investigations run by the State Law Enforcement Division and the Office of Inspector General.

“I worked closely with Thomas when he was chief counsel to the governor. Corrections is obviously a very litigious environment. I relied on him for legal advice and strategy on many lawsuits,” said Bryan Stirling, current U.S. Attorney for South Carolina and former director of the S.C. Department of Corrections, which oversees the state prison system.

Over the years, Limehouse was involved in discussions and negotiations about major economic projects, such as bringing Scout Motors, an electric vehicle company, to upper Richland County. The endeavor is expected to create 4,000 new jobs.

An explosive report

In September 2017, just seven months into his job with the governor’s office, Limehouse was instructed to go to a Cracker Barrel restaurant on I-26 in Berkeley County. There, in a brown envelope, he received a then-confidential year-old copy of an audit by Bechtel engineering company of major construction problems involving two billion-dollar nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer nuclear site in Fairfield County.

The contents were explosive. They proved executives in charge of $9 billion worth of construction at V.C. Summer had known for a year that the project was plagued by construction delays, faulty designs and mismanagement, and was in serious trouble. The project collapsed in mid-2017, throwing 4,000 people out of work.

After Limehouse brought the report back to McMaster, the governor promptly made it public — disclosing the long-suppressed truth about the project. The revelations led to years of state and federal criminal investigations, prison sentences for several executives and the absorption of SCANA, once one of South Carolina’s most successful companies, into a Virginia energy giant, Dominion.

Mark Moore, a former federal prosecutor who has worked on high stakes legal cases where Limehouse was involved, said, “I think Thomas is an exceptionally talented young lawyer. He did a fantastic job with the governor’s office, and I expect him to be highly successful in private practice.”

In McMaster’s inner circle, where chief of staff Trey Walker has a reputation for brashness, Limehouse played a key role as a stabilizing influence, a person familiar with the governor’s operation said.

“Thomas was the perfect foil for Trey, who is a political animal and who can be heavy-handed. Thomas was always the calm, cool, collected and rational and make-sure-we’re-doing-it-right voice, providing wise advice,” said the person, who didn’t want their identity disclosed because people are not supposed to discuss the inner workings of the governor’s office.

General Counsel Grayson Lambert will replace Limehouse on the governor’s legal team.

Background

Limehouses have been in South Carolina since at least the 1780s. A distant relative, the late Harry “Buck” Limehouse, was the first Secretary of Transportation in the agency’s history.

Thomas’s father, former state Rep. Thomas Limehouse, R-Dorchester, was caught up in the 1990s FBI “Operation Lost Trust” General Assembly bribery investigation and pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy charges, losing his seat and his law license in the process.

Limehouse, the son, was just three at the time and grew up in a single-parent family without much contact with his father. But he now has a good relationship with him.

What happened to his father had an influence on him, Limehouse said. “That was probably what motivated me subconsciously to work hard. Nobody ever bought me a cup of coffee or lunch or anything. I’ve tried to distinguish myself from my dad.”

Young Thomas Limehouse had the smarts, personality and work ethic he needed to make it on his own, say people who know him.

After graduating from Wando High School in Mount Pleasant, Limehouse entered the University of South Carolina’s Honors College, where he majored in political science and graduated Phi Beta Kappa, the prestigious collegiate honor society.

“He took my class one semester and was one of the best students I’ve ever had,” said veteran state Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, one of the first graduates of the Honors College program who for years has taught a government class at the college.

“When I found out he was going to be Gov. McMaster’s attorney, I couldn’t think of a finer person to do that. He has the utmost intellect, ethics, work ethic, personality, he’s an all-around good guy,” said Hutto, who has kept in touch with Limehouse over the years.

After graduating from what is now USC Rice School of Law, where he was editor-in-chief of the law review, Limehouse held a variety of jobs including a federal court clerkship and working for a Charleston law firm until starting work with McMaster in February 2017.

His fans today include William Hubbard, USC law school dean, who has known Limehouse for years, from the time he was a summer associate at Nelson Mullins law firm to when he clerked for a federal judge. Their encounters included the time when Limehouse represented McMaster and Hubbard represented Santee Cooper, the state-owned utility involved in the V.C. Summer nuclear plant litigation.

“Thomas Limehouse is a lawyer of extraordinary talent and diligence whose work ethic is unparalleled,” wrote Hubbard in a text. “His keen judgment and powerful work ethic will be the foundation of an extraordinary private practice.”

Personal side: power couple

Limehouse is a fan of books on history and politics.

“I can’t believe how many books of Bob Woodward’s I have,” he says, referring to the legendary Washington Post investigative reporter. A recent read is “The Pioneers,” by the late Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough about the settling of early Ohio following the American Revolution. He’s now reading “Isaac’s Storm” by Erik Larson. It is about the 1900 Galveston hurricane, the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history, and how the lack of modern scientific technology led to the high death toll.

Thomas met Emily Limehouse, 36, his wife of 12 years, when they were high school students. They have three children under 7.

Thomas was spending a lot of time driving back and forth to and from Columbia and Charleston and staying part time in Columbia while working at the governor’s office.

“He’s always been a very involved partner and parent in our life together,” Emily said, “but it’s good to have him on the road a little less. He seems very excited about what’s ahead for him professionally and looking forward to this new challenge. It’s good to see him dive into this.”

Like her husband, Emily Limehouse is an accomplished lawyer. As an assistant U.S. Attorney, she was lead federal prosecutor on the white collar crimes committed by the notorious fraudster and convicted killer Alex Murdaugh and his accomplices -- disbarred lawyer Corey Fleming and former banker Russell Laffitte. She also worked on the federal prosecutions involving the former SCANA officials in the V.C. Summer scandal.

“Together, they are a power couple,” Hutto said.

These days, Limehouse can be found in Charleston courthouses and at his East Bay Street offices, where his law firm describes itself as “a boutique South Carolina law firm that counsels clients on significant and complex legal issues and high-stakes litigation.”

What does that mean?

It means, for example, said Limehouse, that in a situation involving say, an out-of-state company that wants to come into South Carolina, he will be able to help.

“They don’t know the political landscape, or the legal landscape of South Carolina. They need sort of end-to-end guidance on how navigate legal and political issues,” said Limehouse, whose time in the governor’s office has given him ample experience in both arenas.

“For better or for worse, you cannot separate law and politics in South Carolina.”

This story was originally published October 20, 2025 at 5:30 AM.