Michael’s past legal experience includes having served as an assistant prosecutor in Mingo County, WV, and as a member of the firm of Adkins & Adkins. Upon his return to North Carolina, he joined the firm of Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice in Winston-Salem. He subsequently joined the law firm of former judge David R. Tanis where he did civil litigation, personal injury, traffic and criminal litigation before moving to Salisbury in 1992 to join the firm of Wallace & Whitley.

At Wallace & Whitley, his practice concentrated in personal injury and product liability. When that firm split in 1996, he remained as a shareholder in Wallace, Graham & Adkins (which is now known as Wallace & Graham) before leaving to join Cecil L. Whitley in his firm, where he practiced personal injury, civil litigation, traffic and criminal law until opening his own office in 2001. He joined Kluttz, Reamer et al as a partner in 2005 and led that firm’s injury practice until establishing Adkins Carter, LLC, in 2019.