Mike Watts has spent his adult life in service to the people of Mississippi. Mike began his career as a correctional officer at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, while attending Delta State University as a full-time student, then joined the City of Cleveland, Mississippi, Police Department, where he served for nearly five years before becoming a Criminal Investigator for the 11th Circuit Court District Attorney. It was during those years, Mike learned firsthand how the law affects people's lives, and that is when he decided to pursue a career as an attorney.
Mike graduated with honors from The University of Mississippi Law School in 1984. Mike has practiced with the Holcomb Law Group since that time, other than a nine month period of time when he served as an attorney for The United States Department of Defense at the Red Stone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.
Mike is admitted to practice before all Mississippi state and federal courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. His peers elected him to the Mississippi Board of Bar Commissioners as a young lawyer, where he served from 1995 to 1998. Mike has been continuously rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest possible peer rating, since 1996, and has been selected by The Best Lawyers in America for a number of years. He has also served as the Municipal Judge for Oxford, Mississippi, an adjunct professor at The University of Mississippi School of Law, an adjunct professor at Northwest Mississippi Community College, and as Hearing Officer and Chief Hearing Officer for the Mississippi State Personnel Board for approximately eight years. During that time, Mike made many rulings affecting the employment of State of Mississippi employees who had been disciplined or terminated from employment by their state agency.
Mike has been practicing law for over forty years. Mike's legal practice has covered a wide range of legal work, including criminal defense, insurance defense, mass tort, medical malpractice, wills and estates, real estate litigation, family law, and appellate practice before the Mississippi Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals.
Mike is a widower. He has lived in Oxford, Mississippi, since 1981. Mike's daughter, son-in-law, and two grandsons also live in Oxford.