Thompson Sweethearts Tyger and Kayla Quarles Celebrate Law, Love and a New Chapter
By Sarah Owens
By the time Tyger and Kayla Quarles finally sat still on the beach in Maui, it was mid-August 2025, and the whirlwind that had defined the previous year had finally stopped. “We were over everything while everything was happening,” Kayla says. “And then once everything was actually done, and we sat on the beach and ate smash burgers and really good cinnamon rolls, we were like, ‘Oh, this is fantastic.’”
The moment came after a year that included graduating from law school, getting married, moving to Atlanta and taking the bar exam—all within a matter of months. For the Thompson High School Class of 2018 graduates and longtime couple, it was the culmination of a journey that began years earlier.
Tyger, an Alabaster native, and Kayla, who moved to the city from Ohio in second grade, met in sixth grade. The pair says Alabaster’s suburban setting and well-resourced school system played a meaningful role in shaping their experiences and expectations. “It’s a small-town feel and small-town vibe,” Tyger says, “but still a lot of opportunities to be involved with really cool stuff.”
Both credit Thompson not just for academics, but for relationships that endured long after graduation. “My high school teachers stuck out to me more than my college professors,” Tyger says. Kayla agrees, noting that some teachers still keep in touch. “They still talk to us, message and wish happy birthday,” she says. “One of the high school teachers sent us a gift card for a wedding gift. They’re just people who really, genuinely care.”
After high school, Kayla enrolled at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) while Tyger set off to Nashville where he attended Vanderbilt University. While in college, the pair, founded Hope to Homeless and provided care packages to homeless people in Birmingham and Nashville.
Kayla graduated with her bachelors in psychology from UAB in three and a half years and briefly worked at the university’s Student Support Center before heading to Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law. A first-generation college and law school graduate, she describes much of the process as navigating without a road map. “I felt with most of it, I was kind of blind going into a lot of things,” she says. “I think that overall, just being first generation and trying to figure out everything on your own and not really having a reference point was probably the most difficult thing.”
Tyger, meanwhile, went straight from undergraduate studies to law school at the University of Alabama. His path into law was shaped in part by family influence. “My dad was a lawyer. My sister is a judge,” he says. “I guess the legal track, it’s something that maybe I always thought about. I think what really did it for me was realizing that the law applies everywhere.”
That connection to law became even more meaningful when Tyger lost his father to COVID-19 in December 2020. Balancing grief with major life decisions proved difficult. “Grief isn’t linear,” he says. “You’re doing well, and then you go backward.” He described the absence of his father during pivotal moments as especially hard. “You’re trying to make all these major decisions and figure out what to do next, and you just want to call your go-to person, but they’re not there.”
Still, entering the same profession as his father carries its own sense of pride. “I don’t ever compare me and my dad,” Tyger says. “But I do think about how proud he would be … I don’t think he would be surprised, but I do think he would be proud.”
In law school, both Tyger and Kayla found opportunities that mirrored the mentorship and connection they valued in high school. Kayla worked as a coordinator at the Center for Children Law and Ethics, participated in a mock trial and worked in the Jefferson County Public Defender’s office. Tyger became editor-in-chief of the Alabama Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Law Review and then argued a case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on May 7, just three days after graduation—an experience many attorneys don’t have until at least a decade into their careers.
The 11th Circuit is one level below the Supreme Court. “We have an appellate clinic at the law school, and I was in the appellate clinic my last year at school,” Tyger says. “You do briefing, as you normally would for any case at the appeals level, and if they think the case is complex enough, they grant oral argument so you can come explain more of your case in person. So, when they granted oral argument, we write the brief, so we get to argue the case.”
All the while, the pair were neck deep in wedding planning. Kayla graduated on May 3, 2025, and Tyger followed just one day later. Then Tyger argued before the 11th Circuit before the duo jetted off to get married in Orlando a few weeks later. In July, they moved to Atlanta, started new jobs and passed the bar exam.
Then finally came the August beach vacation. “It was super chaotic,” Kayla says. “We made it as hard as possible.”
Despite the chaos, there was clarity on the other side. “It did feel like, ‘Oh my gosh, we did it,’” Tyger says. “Bar is done; we got married and we moved to Atlanta. Kayla always wanted to be a public defender, and I got this job I really wanted. It was like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s done.’”
Today, Kayla is an assistant public defender in Douglas County, Georgia. Tyger is a judicial law clerk for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Though Atlanta is home for now, both say they hope to eventually return to the Birmingham area.
Looking back, their advice to current Thompson students is rooted less in résumés and more in relationships. “You are the company that you keep. I think about our friends from high school and the people we still talk to from high school, and they are the most intentional and kindest people,” Kayla says. “Being intentional about the people you’re around will support you in your success.”
It’s advice shaped by their own story—one that began in Alabaster classrooms, grew through shared ambition and resilience and now continues as newlyweds navigating the legal profession side by side.