Fulton native Derek Hux did not take the most traditional path to becoming an attorney: He started out as a carpet salesman.
Hux's family owns and operates Carpet Values out of a warehouse in Kingdom City, which created little overhead and allowed the business to sell area rugs at low costs online by the early 2000s. Things were going well, until a series of events transpired that Hux said led to manufacturers and larger stores fixing prices, preventing Carpet Values from being able to sell low.
"I fought, but at the end I wished I had hired an attorney earlier, because while my arguments were well-rationed, they were ignored by the franchise attorneys," he said. "I'll never know how it could have been different, but I hope some day to find the next me ... so I can make the right arguments, so someone who put their heart and soul into their business doesn't have it ripped out from under them by arbitrary restrictions and price fixing."
Hux then went to law school at the University of Missouri-Columbia and has started his own law firm, Hux Law, which is in the process of moving into the former Charter building at the corner of Court and 4th streets.