Attorney-at-law Steven Adams is almost always on the move. He has an ever-changing schedule, and often works 12-hour days, mostly handling criminal cases, but also family and estate cases.
Sometimes, it feels nonstop.
“It’s not a typical job,” Adams said. “Early mornings, late nights, always answering the phone. Phones are going crazy all the time.”
When he feels like he is drowning at work, Adams has a few ways he likes to decompress.
He goes to the gym. He hunts. He flies drones. He plays Dungeons and Dragons. But most recently, Adams has taken up keeping saltwater fish in his Main Street office.
“It gives you a challenge,” he said. “It helps you be patient and understanding, and it makes you really learn how to research stuff and talk to people.”
Originally from Grenada, Adams joined the National Guard. When he completed his training in 2012, he came to Mississippi State University for his undergraduate degree. After that, he went to the University of Mississippi for law school, seeing becoming an attorney as a way to help others.
“Everybody always came up to me throughout my entire life asking me how to do things,” Adams said. “Asking me how to procedurally move forward and get things done. I don’t know, like, when somebody comes up and says, ‘I got a freaking speeding ticket, what do I do?’”
After graduating from law school and clerking for a year in Jackson, Adams passed the bar exam before returning to Starkville in 2019.
Adams started working at another law firm in the city, starting his own in April 2023 in an office across from the county jail.
In October, when a spot opened up on Main Street, he moved his firm to the new location. Along with the new space came his new hobby, as his paralegal — who also helps him to balance his busy work schedule — suggested he install his first tank.
“My paralegal and her husband, they walked into the new office and they said, ‘We want to put a fish tank right there,’” Adams said. “And I’m like, ‘OK, how do we do this?’ And it just kind of evolved from that. So, we have two. We have a 75-gallon reef tank and a 125-gallon predator tank.”
Adams called the process of setting the tanks up a “pain in the butt,” as setting up each tank with usable saltwater took a few months. But now, he has two clownfish, a hawkfish, two sets of shrimp and a lobster in his reef tank, along with a tomato clown, an eagle fish, a serpent starfish, a chocolate chip starfish, a sailfin and a wrasse in the other tank.
Names for the fish range widely from Rascal to Kraken the starfish, though Adams’ particular favorite was Tony (the hawkfish).
Adams said keeping the tanks is all about developing an ecosystem, as a great deal of the work depends on finding ways to keep the tanks “harmonious.” This can mean balancing the amount of rock in a tank with the amount of water, finding species that can live together, or balancing nitrates, nitrites and ammonia levels.
In the future, Adams said, he hopes to add more to his tanks, as he finds the process really “rewarding.” But the thing he finds truly rewarding, he said, is helping others in his law practice.
Adams said that so far, his clients have responded positively to the tanks. One client that he met with recently said that the fish tanks “soothed” and “relaxed” her during the meeting, he said.
“It’s usually pretty good,” Adams joked. “And everybody that messes with the fish, they all pay their bills.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 38 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 38 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
