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We’ve recently been able to catch up with 2007 CHS graduate Micah Carper, who is currently an attorney living in New Orleans. He was generous enough to share his memories, insight, and wisdom since his high school days here in Roanoke.

Would you like to share any memories from your days as a high school student?
I started out attending public school, and I found myself bored, unchallenged, and just very over it. Midway through my sophomore year, I began attending CHS at the old, old location at the Jefferson Center. I was so much happier almost immediately. The freedom of being able to leave for lunch and not being constantly watched and reprimanded for being a weirdo really helped me.

Some of my best CHS memories are helping to move the school from the Jefferson Center to the old bank building, and the late nights at the teller desks editing student films. I think part of the germ of my getting a law degree came in the form of Peter Coogan and Josh Chapman’s American Government class. I was already interested in history and politics, but what I learned in that class flowed into my degree at Warren Wilson College, where I studied History and Political Science, and eventually (after about a ten-year gap) it flowed into my pursuing a legal education.

What took you to New Orleans?
After I graduated from college in 2011, I followed fellow CHS graduate Tony Zeigler (’06) down to New Orleans to try to work in the film industry with him. He actually still works here in New Orleans as a set dresser and leadman. I worked with Tony on a few film jobs as a set dresser, then I got an Americorps position through an organization called Rebuilding Together New Orleans. We led volunteer groups and rebuilt houses damaged by Hurricane Katrina. I learned skills in carpentry, electrical work, demo, and all kinds of construction skills.

Then I took on some odd jobs – construction, retail, some more film jobs, and I worked in an Etsy sweatshop making signs for the bathrooms of rich people’s vacation houses. Then I got a job at my favorite bar, where I was a regular – Finn McCool’s Irish Pub. I worked there for about ten years, and worked my way up from barback to bartender. I met my wife across the bar.

So you bartended your way through law school?
I kept the job at the pub through school. My legal education was somewhat unique in that I only had a semester of the “true law school experience” in the fall of 2019, then Covid happened, and we didn’t return to being fully in person for almost a year. My wedding was also meant to take place in April 2020, but that also fell through, and I had to move it to September 2020. At the Tulane University School of Law, I concentrated on environmental law, serving as articles editor of the Tulane Environmental Law Journal and participating in the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic. My extracurricular activities were also focused on environmental law. In 2022, I graduated with a certificate in Environmental Law.

Will you share with us your life’s journey after law school?
After graduation, I began studying for the Louisiana Bar exam and landed a job with an insurance defense firm that was willing to hire me straight out of law school without requiring me to pass the bar first. My work there was related to insurance disputes arising out of property damage, personal injuries, employment disputes, and construction projects.

In October of 2023, shortly after the birth of my son, I switched jobs. I now work for a firm based primarily out of Miami that deals almost entirely with first-party property damage suits, and I’ve also switched sides, as now I represent the plaintiffs. We sue insurance companies on behalf of homeowners when they deny or underpay their property damage claims.

My day-to-day practice is really more about negotiation and communication than it is about going to court or filing documents. I always say if I’ve ended up in a courtroom, something has gone wrong. My goal in most cases is conservation of movement – doing the most with the least amount of time, effort, and resources expended. But I also want to maximize my client’s recovery, so a quick and efficient resolution is the goal. I engage in phone conferences, the exchange of information, and, when necessary, mediations and more formal proceedings to try to find a mutually agreeable solution for my clients and the company on the other side.

It sounds like you’re very happy with your position in life.
I still live in New Orleans with my wife Elizabeth, our two-year-old son Hollis, our five-month-old daughter Corinne, and a grumpy old black cat named Miles. My current job provides me with the flexibility to spend more time with my family and set my own schedule, without someone constantly checking in on me.

Upon reflection, my reasons for leaving public school and coming to Community High, and my reasons for leaving my 9-to-5 insurance defense job in a gleaming downtown tower to practice at my current one, are much the same. Being able to be self-directed and find my own path has always been the goal.

Is there anything you are looking forward to in the near future?
I recently took the Texas bar exam, at the urging of the partners in Miami, and just found out I passed earlier this month. I am now in the process of being admitted to the bar in Texas, North Carolina, and South Carolina. So my future will be a much more geographically diverse practice in the coming months and years.

Thank you, Micah, for taking the time to share your life with us. Congratulations on your bar exam, and also on your beautiful family. This has been so fun!