“Meet James J. Carter
James Carter is a nationally recognized and accomplished civil trial attorney. He is a founding partner at Carter & McKee, LLC law firm. He often states that he could never thank God enough for his Parents who gave him a solid foundation. Mr. Carter has tried to verdict, settled, and been associated with multiple high-value cases ranging from $1,000,000 to $70,000,000. His skillfully aggressive approach to the civil jury trial world gained him elite memberships into the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. In 2012 and 2016, New Orleans City Business Magazine recognized James Carter as a Leader in Law. He serves as faculty for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) and The National Bar Association-Civil Trial Advocacy Boot Camp Program; he is a Civil Trial Litigation Adjunct Professor at Howard University School of Law and sits on the Howard University School of Law Board of Visitors. He also served as an Adjunct Trial Advocacy Professor at the Tulane University School of Law. Operating regularly as “High Stakes Counsel” when there are millions of dollars on the line, law firms throughout the United States hire Mr. Carter on their trial teams. In 2019, he received a prized certification in Mass-Tort Multi-District Litigation from the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke University School of Law. The James Carter distinction is that he cares about his clients and fights for them from the depths of his heart.

Early in life, Mr. Carter recognized the misery associated with inequalities. Through that lens and with a desire to fight for humanitarian causes, he was blessed with the opportunity to in 1991 graduate from the prestigious Howard University as a Philosophy and Theater student. He would then go on to attend Howard University School of Law, where he obtained his Juris Doctor degree in 1997. During his time in law school, Mr. Carter was influenced by some of the greatest legal minds in American history: Charles Hamilton Houston, Pauline Murray, A.P. Tureaud, Spotswood Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, Johnnie Cochran and many others. He embraced the famous words of the great former dean of Howard University School of Law-Charles Hamilton Houston who said a “lawyer is either a social engineer or a parasite on society.” Leaving Howard University School of Law understanding the importance of constitutional mastery and zealously applying its time-honored principles in the court system, James Carter was molded into the unyielding advocate he is today.
Armed with his freshly minted law degree in 1997, he immediately continued his community work by serving as the first director of the nationally acclaimed United States Department of Justice-New Orleans Weed and Seed Initiative. In 2001, Mr. Carter served as a Staff Trial Counsel for the Orleans Indigent Defenders Program, while garnering an impressive acquittal rate. Mr. Carter’s early trial experiences came in the gritty arena of criminal defense, and that experience illuminated his courage, fortified his toughness and showcased his talent as a formidable jury trial attorney.
After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, he chose to take part in the rebuilding of his beloved community and city. He was elected as the second African American to serve as a New Orleans City Councilman in District C and on the first New Orleans City Council seated after the storm in 2006. From 2006 to 2010, as a Councilman, he played the lead legislative role in establishing the first City Charter mandated Division of the Independent Police Monitor to fight police brutality and misconduct. From 2010 to 2012, James Carter served as a Fellow with the VERA Institute of Justice and was given the VERA Institute Justice Award in 2009. In 2011, he was selected to serve as the first African-American Criminal Justice Commissioner in New Orleans’ history.
James Carter is admitted to practice in all Louisiana state courts, all Louisiana United States District Courts, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal as well as the United States Supreme Court. He is a member of the Louisiana Bar Association, Louisiana Association for Justice Board of Governors, The Academy of New Orleans Trial Lawyers and serves on the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors-the body that provides policy guidance and fiscal oversight for nine public universities in Louisiana. He also serves on the boards of Greater New Orleans, Inc., Police and Justice Foundation and Common Good New Orleans, Inc.
In 2013, James Carter published the timely article, Benefits of Having Diversity in Your Jury Practice, in the Louisiana Advocates journal, and in 2017, along with Dr. Danette O’Neal, he co-authored the book Money Matters 101: A Smart Money Guide for 18 and Beyond. Mr. Carter has lectured in Europe, Canada, Panama and across the United States. He is a participant in a multi-year study, at the University of Oxford (Oxford, England), Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict, of leadership in divided communities. In 2007, he participated in the government of France Foreign Visitors Program.
James Carter is a philanthropist who has given so much to so many. More recently Mr. Carter established an endowed scholarship fund to benefit students who aspire to become lawyers. James Carter graduated from the storied McDonough # 35 College Preparatory Senior High School, and in 2018 was inducted into its Wall of Fame. He also serves on the board and graduated from the internationally renowned New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, where he studied Theater. In fact, he appeared in the first season of the HBO Series Treme, which was set in post-Katrina New Orleans, and created by the same producer of the HBO Series The Wire. In 2019, he was appointed to the Multi-Cultural Media Correspondence Association Advisory board.
He is married to Rene Carter, and they have one child, Brice Carter.
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Education, Areas of Practice and Honors
AREAS OF PRACTICE:
• Catastrophic Personal Injury
• Complex Commercial Litigation
• Products Liability
• Maritime
• Premises Liability
• Mesothelioma/Asbestos
• Talcum Powder Ovarian Cancer
• Vaginal Mesh
• Opioid Litigation
ADMITTED TO PRACTICE:
• All Louisiana Courts
• U.S.D.C. – Eastern District of Louisiana
• U.S.D.C. – Middle District of Louisiana
• U.S.D.C. – Western District of Louisiana
• U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal
• United States Supreme Court
EDUCATION:
• Howard University School of Law (J.D.) – 1997 Washington D.C.
• Howard University (B.A.) – 1991 Washington D.C.
• McDonogh #35 College Preparatory Senior High School – 1987
• New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (Theater) – 1987
PRESENTATIONS:
• Mastering the Art, Science & Craft of Advocacy Program, Faculty Member, National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA), New Orleans, Louisiana (January 24-25, 2019)
• Developing a High-End Civil Trial Practice, A Challenge in Diversity (CLE Seminar), 2019 National Bar Association Panama Mid-Winter Conference, Joint session with Judges and Attorneys, Panama City, Panama (January 19, 2019)
• Constitution Day Speaker, Grambling State University, Grambling, Louisiana (September 18, 2018)
• Law and Order, Atlanta Association of Insurance Professionals, 30th Anniversary Symposium and Luncheon, Atlanta, Georgia (August 16, 2018)
• GET INTO FOCUS, Making Money Moves, Increase Settlement Amounts and Improve Trial Results Using Focus Groups, 2018 National Bar Association Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana (August 1, 2018)
• A Change is Going to Come; The Wall Street Case for Diversity and Inclusion in 2018 (CLE Seminar), National Bar Association 93rd Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana (August 1, 2018)
• Civil Litigation, Benefits of Having Diversity in Civil Jury Practice, LJC/NBA Annual Meeting and CLE Seminar 2018, “”Advancing Judicial Competency””, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (February 16, 2018)
• Effective Opening and Closing Arguments, Lemoyne-Owen College, Memphis, Tennessee (February 7, 2018).
• Trial Advocacy (CLE Seminar) Jackson Barracks, Headquarters of Louisiana National Guard, New Orleans, Louisiana (June 2, 2018)
• Effective Closing Arguments, Southern University Law Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (April 11, 2018)
• Developing a High End Civil Trial Practice – Howard University School of Law, Washington, D.C. (October 6-8, 2017 and October 5-7, 2018)
• Across Racial Lines: Transforming a City after a Natural Disaster – University of Oxford -Harris Manchester College, Annual Conference, Oxford, England (September 27, 2017)
• Get Into Focus: Increase Settlement Amounts and Improve Trial Results Using Focus Groups – National Bar Association Convention, Toronto, Canada (August 2, 2017)
• Ideological Passion v. Principled Pragmatism: Bridging the Racial Divide in Urban America, Unity Church-Unitarian, St. Paul, Minnesota (November 14, 2015) Read more

AWARDS AND HONORS:
• Million Dollar Advocates Forum
• Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum
• The National Black Lawyers Top 100
• New Orleans City Business Magazine, Leadership in Law Award, 2016 and 2012 Read more
• Leadership Award, Bureau of Consular Affairs
• VERA Institute of Justice, Award
• Crime Coalition, Distinguished Leader Proclamation
• Institute for Social Justice, Inc., Award
• Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, Justice for Youth Award
• Ebonetworks, Changing Faces Award
• French Quarter Business Women Association, Darling Heart Award
PUBLICATIONS:
• Danette O’Neal & James J. Carter, Money Matters 101: A Smart Money Guide for 18 and Beyond (2017)
• James Carter, Benefits of Having Diversity in Your Jury Trial Practice, LAJ (2013)”