Tonja Carter

Shortly after getting her law degree from the University of Alabama in 2006, Ms. Carter started working at Alice Lee’s century-old law firm, Barnett, Bugg, Lee & Carter, LLC doing probate and criminal law work. She’s also married to a pilot who is the son of a cousin to the late author Truman Capote, who was a close friend of Ms. Lee’s and also from Monroeville Alabama. In 2013, the couple opened a restaurant called “The Prop and Gavel” in Monroeville’s historic downtown square, according to the Alabama Tourism Department. The business is temporarily closed, according to its Facebook page. Ms. Carter played a role in a dispute between Ms. Lee and her former agent Samuel Pinkus. In a federal lawsuit filed in 2013, Ms. Lee claimed Mr. Pinkus engaged in a scheme to “dupe” Ms. Lee into signing over the copyright to “To Kill a Mockingbird” to a company he controlled for no money.